View source for Pat O'Callaghan

{{short description|Irish hammer thrower (1906–1991)}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=July 2024}}
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{{Infobox sportsperson
| name             = Pat O'Callaghan
| image            = Pat O'Callaghan 1928.jpg
| image_size       = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = O'Callaghan at the [[1928 Summer Olympics|1928 Olympic Games]]
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| native_name      = Pádraig Ó Ceallacháin
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| birth_name       = Patrick O'Callaghan
| fullname         = 
| nickname         = 
| nationality      = Irish
| ethnicity        = 
| citizenship      = [[British nationality law|British citizenship]] (1906-1922)<br>[[Irish nationality law|Irish citizenship]] (1922-1991)
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1906|01|28|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Kanturk]], [[County Cork]], [[History of Ireland (1801–1923)|Ireland]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|UK]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1991|12|01|1906|01|28|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Clonmel]], [[County Tipperary]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]
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| education        = 
| alma_mater       = [[Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland]]
| occupation       = Doctor
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| height           = 1.80 m
| weight           = 98 kg
| spouse           = {{marriage|Kitty O'Reilly|1934}}
| children         = 5
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| sport            = [[Hammer throw]]
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| rank             = Olympic champion
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{{MedalCompetition|[[Olympic Games]]}}
{{MedalGold | [[1928 Summer Olympics|1928 Amsterdam]]| [[Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's hammer throw|Hammer throw]] }}
{{MedalGold | [[1932 Summer Olympics|1932 Los Angeles]]| [[Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics - Men's hammer throw|Hammer throw]] }}
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'''Patrick O'Callaghan''' (28 January 1906 – 1 December 1991) was an [[Irish people|Irish]] [[Hammer throw|hammer thrower]] and double [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] [[Olympic Gold Medal|gold medallist]]. He was the first [[athlete]] from [[Ireland]] to win an Olympic medal under the [[Flag of Ireland|Irish flag]] rather than the [[Union Jack|British flag]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Two Olympic Golds For Irish Hammer Thrower |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/0726/893067-pat-ocallaghan-olympic-hammer-thrower/ |website=RTE Archives |access-date=9 August 2021}}</ref>

==Early and private life==
O'Callaghan was born in the [[townland]] of Knockaneroe, near [[Kanturk]], [[County Cork]], on 28 January 1906,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details-civil/10726a2715655|title=General Registrar's Office|website=IrishGenealogy.ie|access-date=15 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Coolclough/Knockaneroe/415527/|title=National Archives: Census of Ireland, 1911|website=www.census.nationalarchives.ie|language=en|access-date=2017-09-15}}</ref> the second of three sons born to Paddy O'Callaghan, a farmer, and Jane (née Healy). He began his education at the age of two at Derrygalun [[National school (Ireland)|national school]]. O'Callaghan progressed to [[secondary school]] in Kanturk and at the age of fifteen, he won a scholarship to the Patrician Academy in [[Mallow, County Cork|Mallow]]. During his year in the Patrician Academy, he cycled the {{convert|32|mile|order=flip|adj=on}} round trip from Derrygalun every day and he never missed a class. O'Callaghan subsequently studied medicine at the [[Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland|Royal College of Surgeons]] in [[Dublin]]. Following his graduation in 1926 as the youngest doctor ever produced by RCSI, he pursued postgraduate studies at [[University College Cork]], then joined the [[Royal Air Force]] [[RAF Medical Service|Medical Service]] and was stationed at [[RAF Halton]]. He returned to Ireland in 1928 and set up his own medical practice in [[Clonmel]], [[County Tipperary]], where he worked until his retirement in 1984.<ref name=r1>{{cite sports-reference |url= https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/oc/pat-ocallaghan-1.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200417173006/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/oc/pat-ocallaghan-1.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 17 April 2020 |title=Pat O'Callaghan |access-date= 19 October 2011}}</ref> O'Callaghan was also a renowned field sports practitioner, [[greyhound]] trainer and storyteller. In 1934, he married Kitty O'Reilly, a native of Clonmel, with whom he had four sons followed by a daughter. One of O'Callaghan's sons, Hugh, won twelve Irish national athletics titles (four shot put, four discus, two hammer, one javelin and one decathlon) and three Irish weightlifting titles, setting eight Irish shot put records and three Irish weightlifting records; he was also a successful weightlifting coach in the United States.<ref name="dict. of Irish Biog.">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/ocallaghan-patrick-pat-a6548 |entry=O'Callaghan, Patrick (‘Pat’) |last=Rouse |first=Paul |title=O'Callaghan, Patrick (‘Pat’) |access-date=25 April 2025 |encyclopedia=Dictionary of Irish Biography |date=2009 |doi=10.3318/dib.006548.v1 |doi-access=free|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Sporting career==

===Early sporting life===

O’Callaghan was born into a family that had a huge interest in a variety of different sports. His uncle, Tim Vaughan, was a national sprint champion and played [[Gaelic football]] with [[Cork GAA|Cork]] in 1893. O’Callaghan's eldest brother, Seán, also enjoyed football as well as winning a national 440 yards hurdles title, while his other brother, [[Con O'Callaghan (decathlete)|Con]], was also regarded as a gifted runner, jumper and thrower. O’Callaghan's early sporting passions included fishing, poaching and Gaelic football. He was regarded as an excellent midfielder on the [[Banteer GAA|Banteer]] football team, while he also lined out with the [[Banteer GAA|Banteer]] [[hurling]] team.

At university in Dublin, O’Callaghan broadened his sporting experiences by joining the local senior [[Rugby union|rugby]] club. This was at a time when the [[Gaelic Athletic Association]] forbade players of [[Gaelic games]] from playing "foreign sports". It was also in Dublin that O’Callaghan first developed an interest in [[hammer throwing]]. In 1926, he returned to his native Duhallow where he set up a training regime in that discipline. Here he fashioned his own hammer by boring a one-inch hole through a 16&nbsp;lb shot and filling it with the ball-bearing core of a bicycle pedal. He also set up a throwing circle in a nearby field where he trained. In 1927, O’Callaghan returned to Dublin where he won that year's hammer championship with a throw of {{cvt|142|ft|3|in|order=flip}}. In 1928, he retained his national title with a throw of {{cvt|162|ft|6|in|order=flip}}, a win that allowed him to represent [[Ireland at the 1928 Summer Olympics]]. On the same day, O’Callaghan's brother, Con, won the shot put and the decathlon and also qualified for the Olympic Games. Between winning his national title and competing in the Olympic Games O’Callaghan improved his throwing distance by recording a distance of {{cvt|166|ft|11|in|order=flip}} at the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] Sports in [[Belfast]].

===1928 Olympic Games===
In the summer of 1928, the three O’Callaghan brothers paid their own fares when travelling to the Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Pat finished in sixth place in the preliminary round and started the final with a throw of {{cvt|47.49|m|ftin}}. This put him in third place behind [[Ossian Skiöld]] of [[Sweden]] but ahead of [[Malcolm Nokes]], the favourite from [[Great Britain]]. For his second throw, O’Callaghan used the Swede's own hammer and recorded a throw of {{cvt|51.39|m|ftin}}. This was {{cvt|10|cm|0}} more than Skiöld's throw and resulted in a first gold medal for O’Callaghan and for Ireland. The podium presentation was particularly emotional as it was the first time at an Olympic Games that the [[Flag of Ireland|Irish tricolour]] was raised and [[Amhrán na bhFiann]] was played.

===Success in Ireland===
After returning from the Olympic Games, O’Callaghan cemented his reputation as a great athlete with additional successes between 1929 and 1932. In the national championships of 1930 he won the hammer, shot-putt, 56&nbsp;lbs without follow, 56&nbsp;lbs over-the-bar, discus and high jump.

In the summer of 1930, O’Callaghan took part in a two-day invitation event in [[Stockholm]] where Oissian Skoeld was expected to gain revenge on the Irishman for the defeat in Amsterdam. On the first day of the competition, Skoeld broke his own European record with his very first throw. O’Callaghan followed immediately and overtook him with his own first throw breaking the new record. On the second day of the event both O’Callaghan and Skoeld were neck-and-neck, when the former, with his last throw, set a new European record of {{cvt|178|ft|8|in|order=flip}} to win.

===1932 Summer Olympics===
By the time the [[1932 Summer Olympics]] came around, O’Callaghan was regularly throwing the hammer over {{convert|170|feet|order=flip}}. The Irish team were much better organised on that occasion and the whole journey to [[Los Angeles]] was funded by a church-gate collection. Shortly before departing on the {{convert|6,000|mi|adj=on|order=flip}} boat and train journey across the Atlantic, O’Callaghan collected a fifth hammer title at the national championships.

On arrival in Los Angeles, O’Callaghan's preparations of the defence of his title came unstuck. The surface of the hammer circle had always been of grass or clay and throwers wore field shoes with steel spikes set into the heel and sole for grip. In Los Angeles, however, a cinder surface was to be provided. The Olympic Committee of Ireland had failed to notify O’Callaghan of this change. Consequently, he came to the arena with three pairs of spiked shoes for a grass or clay surface and time did not permit a change of shoe. He wore his shortest spikes, but found that they caught in the hard gritty slab and impeded his crucial third turn. Despite being severely impeded, he managed to qualify for the final stage of the competition with his second throw of {{cvt|52.21|m|ftin}}. While the final of the 400m hurdles was delayed, O’Callaghan hunted down a hacksaw and a file in the groundskeeper's shack and cut off the spikes. O’Callaghan's second throw reached a distance of {{cvt|53.92|m|ftin}}, a score that allowed him to retain his Olympic title. It was Ireland's second gold medal of the day as [[Bob Tisdall]] had earlier won a gold medal in the 400m hurdles.

===Retirement===
O’Callaghan did not take part in the national athletic championships in Ireland in 1933. However, he still worked hard at training and experimented with a fourth turn to set a new European record at {{cvt|178|ft|9|in|order=flip}}. By this stage, O’Callaghan was rated as the top thrower in the world by the leading international sports journalists. In the early 1930s, a controversy erupted between the British AAA and the [[Cycling Ireland|National Athletic and Cycling Association of Ireland]] (NACAI). The British AAA claimed jurisdiction in [[Northern Ireland]] while the NACAI claimed jurisdiction over the entire island of [[Ireland]] regardless of political division. The controversy came to a head in the lead-up to the [[1936 Summer Olympics]] when the [[IAAF]] finally disqualified the NACAI.

O'Callaghan won the British [[AAA Championships]] title in the hammer throw event at the British [[1934 AAA Championships]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000640/19340714/336/0011 |title=Finals of White City events |work=Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette |date=14 July 1934 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=16 January 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003359/19340715/325/0019 |title=British athletes lose titles |work=Weekly Dispatch (London) |date=15 July 1934 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=16 January 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=16 January 2025 }}</ref>

O’Callaghan remained loyal to the NACAI, a decision which effectively brought an end to his international athletic career. No Irish team travelled to the 1936 Olympic Games; however, O’Callaghan travelled to [[Berlin]] as a private spectator. After Berlin, O’Callaghan's international career was over. He declined to join the new [[Irish Amateur Athletics Union]] (IAAU) or subsequent IOC-recognised [[Amateur Athletics Union of Eire]] (AAUE) and continued to compete under NACAI rules. At [[Fermoy]] in 1937 he threw {{cvt|195|ft|4|in|order=flip}} – nearly two metres ahead of the world record of {{cvt|57.77|m|ftin}} set by his old friend [[Patrick Ryan (hammer thrower)|Paddy 'Chicken' Ryan]] in 1913. This record, however, was not ratified by the AAUE or the IAAF. In retirement, O’Callaghan remained interested in athletics. He travelled to every Olympic Games up until 1988 and enjoyed fishing and shooting pheasants in Clonmel. He died on 1 December 1991.

==Legacy==

O'Callaghan was the [[List of flag bearers for Ireland at the Olympics|flag bearer]] for Ireland at the 1932 Olympics. In 1960, he became the first person to receive the Texaco Hall of Fame Award. He was made a Freeman of Clonmel in 1984 and was honorary president of [[Commercials GAA (Limerick)|Commercials GAA]]. In 1988 he was awarded the inaugural Distinguished Graduate Award by the RCSI Association of Medical and Dental Graduates.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Distinguished Graduate Award |url=https://www.rcsi.com/alumni/association-of-medical-and-dental-graduates/distinguished-graduate-award |access-date=2024-06-23 |website=www.rcsi.com |language=en}}</ref> The Dr Pat O'Callaghan Sports Complex at Cashel Rd, Clonmel, which is the home of Clonmel Town Football Club, is named after him. In January 2007, a statue to him was raised in Banteer, County Cork.<ref name=r1/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Olympics.com|patrick-o-callaghan|Patrick O'Callaghan|org_archive=20160920231435}}
* {{Olympedia}}

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[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:Irish general practitioners]]
[[Category:Irish male hammer throwers]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force Medical Service officers]]
[[Category:Olympic athletes for Ireland]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for Ireland]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes from County Cork]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College Cork]]
[[Category:People from Kanturk]]
[[Category:Male weight throwers]]
[[Category:Irish military doctors]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish medical doctors]]
[[Category:People from Banteer]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from County Cork]]
[[Category:Irish Free State sportsmen]]