Gold, Silver and Green

Contents

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Acknowledgements

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pp. vii-ix

The many staff members of the National Library with whom I have had dealings over the past five years could not have been more helpful to me in my researches. The same is true of the various local libraries and of the staff members at the Colindale newspaper...

The Olympic Games, 1896–1924

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p. x-x

INTRODUCTION

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pp. 15-28

This chapter will attempt to set the scene for the Irish olympic journeyprior to independence. In some respects, the word ‘journey’ is far toorestrictive for the story we are about to embark upon. Perhaps ‘odyssey’might do it more justice, were it not for the fact that even the originalodyssey appears almost a mere pleasure cruise by comparison with the...

CHAPTER oNE THE ATHENS OLYMPICS OF 1896

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pp. 29-60

...he inaugural modern olympic Games of 1eight.taboldstylenine.taboldstylesix.taboldstylein Athens hadcountries and a total of just 2four.taboldstylefive.taboldstylecompetitors, all of them men. Severalnational teams at the Beijing olympics had more competitors than all ofthe participants at the 1eight.taboldstylenine.taboldstylesix.taboldstyle Games put together.one.superior The remoteness ofAthens, the lack of available media coverage of the Games, except for bland...

CHAPTER TWo THE PARIS GAMES, 1900

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pp. 61-88

...competitors was well over five times the Athens figure, including twenty-two women.one.superiorFor all this, the Paris olympic Games of 1nine.taboldstyle00were the mostdisorganised and diluted Games ever held, lost in the mists of a five-and-a-half-month world exposition. Partly due to this, the Games also had avery low level of Irish involvement, little better than in Athens before...

CHAPTER THREE IRISH-AMERICA AND THE 1904 OLYMPICS

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pp. 89-116

...hile the Paris olympics of 1nine.taboldstyle00had major problems, atUSA, in 1nine.taboldstyle0four.taboldstylebut for a number of reasons, some ofwhich we will touch on here, they were changed to St Louis. St Louis hadnot even been one of the four US candidate cities to begin with. Again,the Games were linked to a world fair, with roughly one sporting event...

CHAPTER FoUR ST LOUIS – IRELAND’S OLYMPIC AWAKENING

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pp. 117-146

...n the previous chapter, the extent to which Irish-America utiliseda very powerful sense of its own identity was clear. Naturally, thisthat more traditionalist olympic powers, chiefly the French and British,had abstained from having anything to do with St Louis. We now turn tolook at the impact of St Louis on the Irish back in Ireland and particularly...

CHAPTER FIvE THE 1906 INTERCALATED GAMES

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pp. 147-180

...anniversary (i.e. 1nine.taboldstyle0six.taboldstyle) of the inaugural Athens Games, once again in theGreek capital. This was in part intended to ease Athenian disappointmentthat the Games had not been granted a permanent home in the Greekfollowing on two sets of Games which had been linked to world fairs (Parisand St Louis), these 1nine.taboldstyle0six.taboldstyleAthens Games went a long way towards rescuing...

CHAPTER SIx LONDON 1908 FROM AN IRISH PERSPECTIVE

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pp. 181-218

...he months after the Athens Games in 1nine.taboldstyle0six.taboldstylesaw significantfuture olympic celebrations. In late 1nine.taboldstyle0six.taboldstyle, following thedisastrous earthquakes in Italy, it was established that London, not Romeas originally planned, would host the 1nine.taboldstyle0eight.taboldstyleGames.one.superiorAlthough evidencefrom both 1eight.taboldstylenine.taboldstylesix.taboldstyleand 1nine.taboldstyle00showed that British officials, particularly within...

CHAPTER SEvEN 1908 AND THE TRIUMPH OF IRISH-AMERICA

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pp. 219-252

...had on Irish identity and nationalism in Ireland, the 1nine.taboldstyle0eight.taboldstyleon the position of Irish-Americans in the USA. The dispute manifesteditself in sporting events but had origins and repercussions well beyondthose events. one historian has suggested that the roots of the dispute laythe two rivals was viewed, at least by the newspapers, as a means...

CHAPTER EIGHT THE 1912 OLYMPIC GAMES AT STOCKHOLM

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pp. 253-288

...he 1nine.taboldstyle0eight.taboldstyleolympics at London marked a high point in Irish andIrish-American olympism. Yet, in the years between 1nine.taboldstyle0eight.taboldstyleandthe overt displays of Irish nationalism which had characterised the 1nine.taboldstyle0four.taboldstyle,1nine.taboldstyle0six.taboldstyleand, in several ways, the 1nine.taboldstyle0eight.taboldstyleGames ever be tolerated again. Thiswould happen because of very thorough work mainly but not exclusively...

CHAPTER NINE THE ANTWERP GAMES OF 1920

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pp. 289-318

...representatives and over 2,five.taboldstyle00competitors made it to Antwerp.one.superiorTheseGames, from an Irish perspective, would be more important for whathappened around them rather than at them, perhaps, although there werea number of notable performances by Irish and Irish-American athletesStockholm Games to generate athletic unity in Ireland, both within the...

CHAPTER TEN FROM ANTWERP TO PARIS, 1920–24

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pp. 319-334

...1nine.taboldstyle20, the powers that were in the British olympichowever. De Coubertin, for example, was struck by the fact that Britainhad, in 1nine.taboldstyle21, apparently failed to find even one representative to attend anIoC meeting, despite the previous IoC meeting in Paris, ‘where the Englishparticipated forcefully and with great enthusiasm’.one.superiorAt that same Paris...

CONCLUSION

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pp. 335-346

...important to take stock of how Ireland’s athletic identity wasimpacted upon different versions of Irish identity in athletics.Firstly, it is noteworthy that the most dramatic efforts at the olympicGames to establish an Irish identity came from outside the control of eitherof the two main athletic bodies in Ireland. John Boland’s post-Athens...

A NoTE oN SoURCES

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pp. 347-352

...particularly as a vehicle for promoting national identity has been welldocumented by historians like Pádraig Purséal and Marcus de Búrca.Within the work of these writers, the political focus has been almostentirely on the role of the GAA as an anti-British, Irish nationalistFurthermore, the GAA’s own sporting interests came to concentrate...

APPENDIX

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pp. 353-364

...olympic Association in 1nine.taboldstyle0five.taboldstyleare listed here by their county of originor residence. us, from 1nine.taboldstyle0six.taboldstyleonwards, they are listed both byrecorded on. is is invariably either as Great Britain (GBR), Great Britainand Ireland (GBR–Irl) or as Ireland (Irl), depending on the circumstancessomewhat more complex. If an athlete was Irish born and on the USA...

NoTES

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pp. 365-408

...1. Peter Lovesey, The Official Centenary History of the Amateur AthleticAssociation(Guinness Superlatives, 1nine.taboldstyleseven.taboldstylenine.taboldstyle), Preface.2. Chronicle of the Olympics 1896–1996(Dorling Kindersley, 1nine.taboldstylenine.taboldstylenine.taboldstyle), p. nine.taboldstyle.3. Alfred Senn, Power, Politics and the Olympic Games (Human Kinetics,four.taboldstyle. Mike Cronin, Sport and Nationalism in Ireland(Four Courts Press,...

BIBLIoGRAPHY

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pp. 409-418

Belfast Newsletter,1eight.taboldstylenine.taboldstylefour.taboldstyle–1nine.taboldstyle00Boston Journal,1eight.taboldstylenine.taboldstylesix.taboldstyleConnaught Telegraph,1nine.taboldstyle0four.taboldstyle–eight.taboldstyleCork Constitution,1eight.taboldstylenine.taboldstylefour.taboldstyle–six.taboldstyleCork Examiner,1eight.taboldstylenine.taboldstylefour.taboldstyle–1nine.taboldstyle20...

INDEx

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pp. 419-430

...five.taboldstylesix.taboldstyle-pound weight throw eight.taboldstylefour.taboldstyle, 2eight.taboldstylefour.taboldstyle–seven.taboldstyle100metres 2four.taboldstyle, 3seven.taboldstyle, 1eight.taboldstyle3, 221four.taboldstyle00metres 2four.taboldstyle, 3seven.taboldstyle, six.taboldstylenine.taboldstyle, 21eight.taboldstyle1nine.taboldstyle1six.taboldstyleRising nine.taboldstyle0, 2eight.taboldstyle1, 32six.taboldstylechampionships nine.taboldstyle, four.taboldstylenine.taboldstyle, five.taboldstylefive.taboldstyle–eight.taboldstyle, six.taboldstyle2, 10six.taboldstyle–seven.taboldstyle,...