Sir, – I argue that Dr Pat O’Callaghan remains Ireland’s greatest Olympian and not Michelle de Bruin, as asserted by Senator Eamonn Coghlan (Home News, June 9th).
Dr O’Callaghan dominated his sport of hammer-throwing, winning back-to-back golds in the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. Due to political difficulties between the athletic associations he did not compete in Berlin in 1936 (he attended nonetheless as a guest) yet he threw an unofficial new world record in 1937.
No other Irish athlete has shown such domination in his or her sporting field. – Yours, etc,