Recalling the Bohola athlete,
winner of five Olympic gold medals
The sensational achievements of Irish swimmer Michelle Smith in the Atlanta Olympics has brought back to the forefront the career of Mayo athlete Martin J. Sheridan who won five Olympic gold medals at the turn of the century.
Born in Treenduff, Bohola, Sheridan was unbeatable over a fourteen-year span, winning hundreds of athletic contests, including nine Olympic medals, twelve national and more than thirty Canadian, Metropolitan and Regional Championships.
Born on March 28th, 1881, he was just 23 when he made his debut in Olympic competition at St. Louis in 1904. His first Olympic victory was in the discus.
After finding himself in third place before the final three rounds, he faced a big battle to get back into contenstion for the gold medal.
The fighter in him refused to give up, however, and he struck back with a throw of 125' in his fourth attempt, moving him up to second place.
He sent the discus spinning out to 128' 10" in his fifth throw. He did not improve in his last throw but neither did his nearest competitor, Ralph Rose. So the competition ended in the first the only tie in the history of Olympic discus throwing.
Three weeks after his win in St. Louis, Sheridan took back the sole ownership of the world record with a throw of 133' 6" and this was still the world's best mark when he left, with the first official American Olympic team, for the Intercalated Olympic Games at Athens in 1906.
At Athens, Martin had no trouble in winning the discus freestyle. He went over 130' with his first throw, and eventually won with a fraction over 136'.
CAUSED A STIR
He created quite a stir when he rebelled slightly against the His second gold medal at Athens came in the shotputt.He also won Olympic silver medals in the standing long jump, the standing high jump and stone-throwing, and then a leg injury prevented him from taking an almost certain gold medal in the pentathlon.
On his return to New York, sportswriters acclaimed him as the greatest track and field athlete of all time.
In June 1908, at the American trials for the Olympic Games, he brought a discus throw of 140' in sight with a further world record of 139' 6"
Because of his tremendous all-round display in these trials, he was nominated to represent America in every field event at the 1908 Games in London.
The great Bohola athlete took three Olympic medals at the games in Shepherd's Bush Stadium, two gold and one bronze.
A number of people travelled to London from Bohola for the games to see their champion compete for America.
Martin visited Ireland in 1908 after the London Olympics. He gave
exhibitions at Dundalk, Dungarvan, Dublin and Ballina
.
Connaught Telegraph - News - July 1996
Connaught Telegraph - Sport - July 1996
