50 Great Irish Athletes

In 1924, the first team representing the newly established Irish Free State travelled to Paris to take part in the 8th Olympic Games of the modern era. At previous Olympic Games and at British and American championships, Irish athletes had distinguished themselves, winning titles, setting world records and helping create the sport of athletics as we know it but in the colours of other countries.

This book celebrates the achievements of 50 carefully chosen Irish athletics greats from the late nineteenth century to the present day. These range chronologically from the Davin brothers to Ireland’s greatest Paralympic the sprinter Jason Smyth who retired as recently as 2023. Among the many Olympic gold medal winners whose stories are told are pioneers John Flanagan and Martin Sheridan; Pat O’Callaghan and Bob Tisdall from the first third of the twentieth century, Ronnie Delany, our first track medal winner from 1956, Mary Peters from 1972 and the more recent stars like Eamonn Coghlan, John Treacy and Sonia O’Sullivan. Sprinters, hurdlers, multi-eventers, race walkers, jumpers and throwers as well as middle and long distance runners, from all 32 counties of Ireland and a variety of backgrounds, are included.

​​​​​​​Whittling down the list of great Irish athletes came after hours of discussion between the late Colm Murphy, the vastly knowledgeable athletics historian who came up with the idea of this book, and the six contributing writers. Some hard decisions had to be taken - and of course you may find that your favourite Irish athlete is not included in the book. On a more positive note, you may well discover a few new favourites - even some you had never heard of previously!