Irish Olympians who won pre-1922 deserve their place on our ‘podium’

AS JOHN TREACY ran the finishing 100 metres of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic marathon, the RTÉ commentator, Jimmy Magee, listed 12 names.

These, he said proudly, were the men who had won Olympic medals for Ireland; as Treacy crossed the line second, Magee named him excitedly as the 13th.

It was a great achievement for Treacy, already a double world cross-country champion, and a great moment for Irish television viewers: Treacy won Ireland’s only medal of the games, in its final event. Magee was correct in those he named, but in doing so he did not honour the achievements of the Irishmen who won Olympic medals before this State came into existence, and who won those medals for Ireland, even if they wore the colours of other countries.