Sir, – Let Ireland not forget her first Olympian, John Pius Boland, later MP for South Kerry and an influential figure in the establishment of the National University of Ireland.
In 1896, when still an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford, Boland travelled to Athens to see the first Olympic Games of the modern era. He had not intended to take part, but at the suggestion of a Greek friend, Constantine Mano, he entered the tennis championship on the spur of the moment and, in spite of total unpreparedness – having come to the games without racquet or tennis shoes – won a gold medal in both the singles and the doubles events. – Yours, etc,
MARTIN MURPHY
Oxford.