Athletics

BIOGRAPHY Bertie Messitt was Ireland's leading long-distance runner of the late 1950s and competed in the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, the first Olympic marathon to be run at night and the first to start and finish outside the stadium. A native of Boghall in Bray, Co. Wicklow, Messitt joined the British Army [...]

BIOGRAPHY Tom O'Riordan competed in the men's 5,000 metres at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, finishing 9th in his heat after leading briefly at the end of the eighth lap. The memory of marching into the stadium for the 5,000 metres heat remained one of the most vivid of his sporting life: 'The buzz of

BIOGRAPHY Noel Carroll was one of Europe's leading 800 metres specialists of the 1960s, ranking fourth in the world in the event in 1963, winning the AAA title, setting a European 880y record, and as part of a Villanova quartet setting a world 4 x 880 yards record in 1964. He made his Olympic debut

BIOGRAPHY Jim Hogan won the European Marathon Championship for Great Britain in Budapest on 4 September 1966 in 2:20:04 - one of the finest performances by any athlete of Irish birth at a major championship in the 1960s - and set a world 30km road record of 1:32:25 later that year. His Olympic career began

BIOGRAPHY Basil Clifford became only the second Irish athlete to break the four-minute mile barrier when he ran 3:59.8 in the Emsley Carr mile - an achievement that placed him in the elite company of Ronnie Delany and marked him as a genuine international-class miler. A native of Inchicore, Dublin, and a worker at Tony

BIOGRAPHY Pat McMahon was Ireland's first genuine world-class marathon runner, winning the Las Vegas Marathon in January 1968 in an American record time of 2:12:14 and going on to finish 12th at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games - the highest placing by an Irish marathon runner at the Olympics to that point. From Liscannor,

BIOGRAPHY Mick Molloy competed in the men's marathon at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games, finishing 41st in 2:48:13 and displaying the courage and indomitable spirit that made him one of the most memorable figures at those Games - running the final six miles barefoot after his shoes disintegrated in the intense heat. A member

BIOGRAPHY John Kelly competed in the men's 50 kilometres race walk at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games, completing one of the most remarkable journeys to an Olympic starting line in the history of Irish sport. Born on 6 October 1929 in Loughmore, Co. Tipperary, Kelly's sporting life encompassed hurling with the Moyglass junior team,

BIOGRAPHY Frank Murphy bridged the gap in Irish middle-distance running between Ronnie Delany in the 1950s and Eamonn Coghlan in the 1970s, becoming the fourth Irish athlete to break the four-minute mile barrier when he ran 3:58.7 in Philadelphia on 1 June 1968, and competed in the men's 1,500 metres at the 1968 Mexico City

BIOGRAPHY Jim McNamara competed in the men's marathon at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, finishing 39th in 2:24:57 - the first of the three Irish marathon runners to cross the line. Selected on the basis of his second-place finish (2:14:54) behind Danny McDaid in the high-quality national championship in Limerick on 11 April 1976, McNamara

BIOGRAPHY Niall O'Shaughnessy was the first Irish athlete to attend the University of Arkansas under the legendary coach John McDonnell - blazing a trail that would be followed by Frank O'Mara, Paul Donovan, Niall Bruton and many others who became Olympic and world-class performers over the following two decades - and competed in the men's

BIOGRAPHY T.J. Kearns competed in the men's 110 metres hurdles at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, finishing 4th in his opening heat in 14.17 seconds to qualify for the second round, where he was subsequently eliminated. From Rathvilly, Co. Carlow, Kearns was described as 'a phenomenon in Irish athletics' who 'consistently produced quality performances in