Irish sport mourns legendary athletics and hockey trailblazer Maeve Kyle

Kyle became Ireland’s first female track and field Olympian in 1956

Maeve Kyle who competed for Ireland in the 1956 Games photographed at home in Galgorm, Ballymena in 2016. .Photo: Matt Mackey / Press Eye

Today Irish sport mourns a legendary trailblazer - Maeve Kyle has died at the age of 96.

Kyle (nėe Shankey) was Ireland’s first female track and field Olympian, representing Ireland in the 100m and 200m sprints in 1956 and 1960. She then went on to reach the semi-finals of the 400m and the 800m at the age of 36 in Tokyo 1964.

She went on to win a bronze medal in the 400m at the 1966 European Indoor Championships in Dortmund, before setting many records in Masters athletics.

Kyle was also a highly accomplished hockey player, winning 58 caps for Ireland and named in the World All Star team in 1953 and 1959. She also competed in swimming, tennis and golf.

Born in Kilkenny in 1928, Kyle was sent to Dublin’s Alexandra College and went to live with her grandparents.

In an interview for the Irish Examiner in 2016, she said: “I wanted to become a doctor and went to Trinity. During the first year, I decided I didn’t want to become a doctor anymore and changed to Natural Sciences – partly because I fancied a fellow in the class.”

Irish Olympic athletics coach Maeve Kyle, who competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Games with the youngest present competitor, 19 year-old Gordon Kennedy, from Tullamore, pictured at Dublin Airport prior to the Irish Olympic team's early morning departure to Sydney for the Olympic Games. Sydney Olympics 2000. Athletics. Picture credit; Brendan Moran/SPORTSFILE

After Trinity, Maeve returned to Alexandra and began teaching, also becoming an international hockey player.

“Sport was something I did in my spare time," she told Eoin O'Callaghan in that interview, "and I never got away from that. 

"I liked to win – make no mistake. People will tell you I had the real driving force but I don’t think I did. I don’t think I was driven enough to win at all costs. Now, people want to win at any cost. It becomes their life and I couldn’t have that.”

It was her late husband Seán, who she married in 1954, who persuaded her to take up sprinting and he acted as her coach for many years. 

She said: “He loved the technical aspects of all sports – athletics, particularly – and had a brilliant mind. You couldn’t build the house if you didn’t have the bricks – it was as simple as that with him. You always had a strong base.

“Because of the hockey, I was introduced to international sport quite early. Then, of course, you get a taste for that level. I was fast enough, fit enough. I had a good enough eye and I had the hunger. And I liked learning. Especially from people more experienced than me.”

Of the attitude to women in sport she remarked: “Women’s place was secondary in everything. It sounds horrible to say but we were second-class citizens. It’s only the last 30 years that women have been kind-of accepted to do a lot of things – but still not everything.”

Athletics Ireland said: "Her presence on the international stage opened doors for countless others, and it was her courage, determination, and dignity on and off the track that truly set her apart."

To mark #InternationalWomensDay our Digital Film Archive have shared this @utv clip of international hockey player & Olympian Maeve Kyle (1966). Maeve talks to Leslie Dawes about her career and the upcoming game against Wales. Watch more footage: https://t.co/L3CgO5skwD pic.twitter.com/gpAiD8tvfq

— Northern Ireland Screen (@NIScreen) March 8, 2022

After she retired from competing, Kyle became a dedicated coach and mentor. She was a founding figure in the Ballymena & Antrim Athletics Club. and she served as coach to the Irish track and field team at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. In 2006 she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Irish Sports Council for her outstanding contribution to Irish sport. In 2007, Athletics Ireland recognised Maeve and Sean with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

An Athletics Ireland statement read: "Maeve Kyle was more than a legend; she was a torchbearer who lit the path for those who followed. Her legacy lives on in the athletes she inspired and the standards she set."

Maeve Kyle in 1971. (Photo by Burnett/Daily Express/Getty Images)

Lochlann Walsh, President of the Olympic Federation of Ireland said, “We have lost a legend of Irish Olympic Sport who rose to the top despite huge challenges in 1950s Ireland. She was an inspiration to us all. May she rest in peace.” 

CEO of the Olympic Federation of Ireland, Peter Sherrard, added, “Our thoughts today are with Maeve’s extended family, friends. Her achievements in life gave inspiration to so many Irish women who followed in her footsteps as Olympians.

She is survived by her daughter Shauna and her granddaughter Indy.