On this day in 1932, Team Ireland experienced the greatest single day it has ever known at the Olympic Games, winning two gold medals, and it was all thanks to Nenagh's Bob Tisdall and the Clonmel doctor, Pat O’Callaghan.
At the games in Los Angeles, Tisdall won the 400m hurdles in a time of 51.67 seconds in the morning of 1 August 1932. It was a highly competitive race which contained the gold medallists from the 1924, 1928 and 1936 games. Tisdall’s time would have been a world record were it not for the fact that he knocked the last hurdle which, according to the rules of the time, prevented the record being attributed to him.
In the afternoon, O’Callaghan was initially struggling with his hammer-throwing as the spikes on his shoes were too long and inhibited his throwing. In a remarkable show of team spirit, Tisdall, buoyed by his gold-winning performance in the morning, helped O’Callaghan file down the spikes before his final throw. It worked a treat as O’Callaghan’s last throw was 176ft 11in (53.92m)- good enough for first place and O’Callaghan’s second Olympic Gold, as he had previously won the Gold in the 1928 games in Amsterdam.
The newspapers were somewhat understated following the triumph with the story not making the front pages of the national or Tipperary papers with the exception of the Nenagh Guardian.
Tisdall and O’Callaghan were honoured guests in 1984 when the Olympics were once again held in Los Angeles. Perhaps unsurprisingly, both men lived long lives with Tisdall dying in Brisbane, Australia on 27 July 2004 at the age of 97, while O’Callaghan passed away on 1 December 1991 at the age of 85. To this day, the feat that they achieved together on 1 August 1932 in Los Angeles has never been matched by Team Ireland.
https://www.dib.ie/biography/tisdall-robert-morton-newburgh-bob-a9367
https://www.dib.ie/biography/ocallaghan-patrick-pat-a6548
