Letters to the Editor: O’Callaghan a role model for athletes in Olympics

While we appreciate the success of our rowers and boxers, it is a shame we are not enjoying the same type of glory in track and field, despite our great tradition of glory from such greats as double Olympic gold-medallist, Dr Pat O'Callaghan

Mon, 02 Aug, 2021 - 08:53

I am delighted to see the great successes for Ireland to date in the rowing and boxing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

It is unfortunate, however, that the Irish athletics team has not one field event athlete, when Ireland is famed for its great jumpers and throwers.

Ireland’s greatest Olympian and arguably supreme all-round sportsman was the mighty Dr Pat O’Callaghan from Kanturk, Co Cork. (I must add that I am from Donegal and unbiased.) O’Callaghan won six different events in the Irish national athletics championships on the same day (a feat never approached since); he won two Olympic gold medals in 1928 and 1932, and after the Irish team was barred from competing in what would have been his third Olympics in 1936, he set a huge world record a year afterwards in 1937.

As the first man to win an Olympic gold for the new nation of Ireland in 1928, O’Callaghan spoke about what his historic victory meant: “I am glad of my victory, not for the victory for myself, but for the fact that the world has been shown that Ireland has a flag, that Ireland has a national anthem, and, in fact we have a nationality.”

A man of many talents, Pat O’Callaghan played football and hurling growing up in Cork; played rugby at university; was a keen angler, and in 1934, went to America and fought several exhibition wrestling bouts where he was offered a professional contract, but declined. He was also offered the chance to play ‘Tarzan’ in the movies but declined that too.

After 22 Irish national titles in hammer, discus, shot and high jump, one English AAA title and one American title, Pat O’Callaghan retired and settled into practicing medicine in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

I hope to see the wonderful Irish tradition of throwing and jumping continue despite this lack of representation in Tokyo.

Leo E Sharkey

Slovakia

The feature-length documentary, 'Untold Secrets', sheds light on Anne Silke and her unspoken experiences and the disturbing allegations that are part of her testimony.

Very little justice for victims of abuse

I will begin with a word of thanks to Teresa Lavina for the documentary Untold Secrets, to Catherine Corless for her exposure of the Tuam babies scandal, to the late Anne Silke for her courage and strength of character, and to Caelainn Hogan and the Irish Examiner for publishing the article ‘Anne Silke: Fostered to a Fianna Fáil TD, beaten, and abused’ (26 July 2021).

Anne Silke’s story is just one story of the many thousands of stories of abused children in Ireland that will forever be a shameful stain on the history of the Republic of Ireland during the 20th century.

These crimes against our most vulnerable citizens were not committed by foreign occupiers, but by so-called Christians, including priests, nuns, and Irish politicians and officials all of whom had a serious duty of care.

The exposure of the serious abuses inflicted on Anne Silke by a senior Fianna Fail politician, Mark Killilea Jr, senator, TD, and MEP, begs some questions.

How many more politicians and other Irish officials were involved in such abuses?

In whose interests was it decided to seal the records of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes for 30 years?

In response to questions from the Irish Examiner, Donagh Killilea, son of the late Mark Killilea Jr, described the allegations made by Anne Silke as both “unverified” and “inaccurate” but said “we have nothing to hide”, adding that “everyone involved in this has passed away”.

Justice delayed in such cases is justice denied and so far very little justice has been achieved for these children.

Edward Horgan

Castletroy

Limerick

Gold medallists Paul O'Donovan, and Fintan McCarthy are interviewed at Dublin Airport as Team Ireland's rowers return from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Team Ireland are doing us proud

The modern summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXXII Olympiad and currently being held in Tokyo, is the world’s leading
international festival of sport, in which over 10,000 athletes from 206 nations are participating in 33 sports.

The modern Olympics were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from 776BC to 393AD.

The Roman emperor Theodosius the Great banned the Olympics in 393AD and it took 1,503 years for the Olympics to return.

The first modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896. The man responsible for its rebirth was a Frenchman, Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, centred on the Latin motto ‘citius, altius, fortius’ — ‘faster, higher, stronger.’

The ancient Olympics were based on an exceptionally high standard of sportsmanship, known as the ‘Corinthian Spirit.

De Coubertin’s vision of the modern Olympics was a festival of sport where the world’s best amateur sportsmen could compete for the glory of their respective nations, for their personal glory and to express sportsmanship at the highest level.

Even though the Olympics have shifted away from pure amateurism and have sometimes been beleaguered by political, commercial, and doping controversies, they still confirm the ability of the power of sport to unite all the nations of the world. To be an Olympian, motivated by passion, ambition, resilience, and integrity is a distinct honour.

To win a gold, silver, or bronze Olympic medal is a lifetime achievement. As a keen sports fan, I’m thoroughly enjoying this wonderful festival of sport and the superb performances of our brilliant Team Ireland, who are doing us proud.

Billy Ryle

Spa Tralee

Co Kerry

Ode to the Skibbereen rowers

Oh, Father dear, I often hear you talk of Skibbereen;

And how two loyal heroes wore two shirts of emerald green.

On the choppy waters in Japan, they pulled some mighty strokes

And rowed their boat in victory to
delight all Irish folks.

At first, they were behind the Germans, until the halfway mark;

But then they smote the mortal blow and pushed along the barque.

And at the golden finish line, ahead by half a length,

They left all others in their wake, broken, tired and spent.