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Denis Horgan

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Olympic medal record
Men's athletics
Silver medal – second place 1908 London Shot put
Horgan depicted on an Ogden's cigarette card, 1902

Denis Horgan (18 May 1871 – 2 June 1922) was a champion Irish athlete and weight thrower, born in Banteer, County Cork, who competed mainly in the shot put.

Biography

Shortly after setting a world's record of 48 feet 2 inches with the 16 pound shot at Queenstown,[citation needed] in County Cork, Ireland in 1897, Horgan visited the U.S., and in 1900, he joined the Greater New York Irish Athletic Association, the predecessor of the Irish American Athletic Club for a brief period.[1] In 1905, he joined the rival New York Athletic Club.[citation needed]

In 1906, Horgan set the world's record for the 28 pound shot, with a distance of 35 feet, 4.5 inches at the Ancient Order of Hibernians games held at Celtic Park in Queens, New York.[2]

He competed for Great Britain in the 1908 Summer Olympics held in London in the shot put, where he won the silver medal.[citation needed]

Denis Horgan won a total 42 shot put titles during his athletic career, including 28 Irish championships,[citation needed] 13 English championships (all for the 16 pound shot)[citation needed] and one American championship.[citation needed] Horgan was "usually so superior to his fellow competitors that he seldom trained in any sort of systematic way, yet he showed a marked consistency of performance, in all conditions, over a period of twenty years."[3]

He emigrated to America where he worked as a police officer.[citation needed] Whilst attempting to rescue a fellow Irishman he was severely stabbed and left for dead.[citation needed] After he recovered he returned to Ireland, married, and settled in Crookstown.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ Katchen, Alan (2008). Abel Kiviat, National Champion: Twentieth-Century Track & Field and the Melting Pot. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0939-1.
  2. ^ NY Daily Tribune, Sunday Aug 26, 1906
  3. ^ Dooley, William (1946). Champions of the Athletic Arena. Dublin: General Publicity Services.
  4. ^ A Great Irish Athlete, Dublin Evening Telegraph, June 2, 1922

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