Irish suffragette Maeve Kyle

Irishwoman Maeve Kyle OBE had to wait until she was 28 for the opportunity to compete in the Olympics. Prior to Melbourne in 1956, Ireland had only selected male athletes. Then she had to wait until 1964 and Tokyo before her best event, the 400m, was an Olympic event for women. At 37 she won her first major medal, a bronze in the 400m at the 1966 European Indoor Athletics Championships. It was a different world back in 1956 and quite fascinating to hear her story.

“I have always reckoned that I was the Irish suffragette of athletics,” said Kyle, now aged 87. “In 1956 I was the first Irishwoman in athletics ever to go the Olympics. I competed again in 1960 and 1964 and also had the privilege of going to the 2000 Olympics as a coach, so I went to four Olympics.

“In 1956 the only events for women were 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles, high and long jump, javelin, shot and discus – so nothing on the track over 200m.

“This was because men thought that women were not capable of running longer distances and that it wouldn’t be nice if they fell down and had to be resuscitated. I suspect that events like the hammer, triple jump and pole vault were thought to be not healthy for women, but I don’t think at that time there was any medical evidence to prove or disprove it.

“You need to understand that at that time all sport was male-dominated and women played social sports rather than …

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