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were no hurdles, so he collected driftwood from the beach and set up some crude hurdles on the greyhound racing track. This took him much of the morning, but just when he was ready to hurdle, someone activated the mechanical rabbit, which sped around the track rail, promptly knocking all the makeshift hurdles over. Finding out that there were hurdles available at a local girls' school, Tisdall cycled there and back each day, to use the hurdles, as the students were on vacation.
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Then in the final, despite stumbling at the final hurdle, he won the
Olympic gold medal in 51.7 seconds which would have been a world record but for the fact that he had knocked over the last hurdle, and under the laws prevailing at the time, this ruled out recognition of a world record. It is worth
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event. At the time he was barely out of the novice class and he had been included in the Irish Team mainly to gain experience of top-class competition. Over the years, he was to develop into one of the world's greatest hammer-throwers and he demonstrated this by winning his second
Olympic gold medal
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in Dublin. Tisdall failed to make the qualifying time, but O'Duffy gave him another chance and
Tisdall qualified for the Irish Team by winning the National 440 yards (400 m) hurdles title at the Irish Championships, also at Croke Park. At the team training camp, Tisdall discovered that there
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Tisdall set South
African and Canadian records in the 220 yards (200 m) low hurdles in 1929, a year later setting Greek records in the same event. While at Cambridge in March 1932, he decided to try for a place in the Irish Olympic squad and after he ran 54.2 seconds (a record) for the Irish
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414:"At that moment I experienced a strange feeling of loneliness—everything was strangely quiet—I began to wonder if the rest of the field had fallen over" – Bob Tisdall, approaching the final hurdle of the 1932 Olympic Games 400 m hurdles final, five meters ahead of the field.
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Because of the wide reporting of
Tisdall's failure to clear the hurdle causing him to lose the record, people are still confused about the current state of the rules of hurdling, even though the rule was changed shortly thereafter.
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Born in Sri Lanka to a family of Irish landed gentry, he lived on his father's plantation until the age of 5, when he returned to his family's home in
Ireland. Following prep school at Mourne Grange, Tisdall went on to
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time of 51.7 seconds, which was not recognised under the rules of the time because he had hit a hurdle. Later, because of the notoriety of this incident, the rules were changed and the
President of the
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This in fact brought a very special moment in
Olympic history for Ireland. Within the short space of an hour Ireland won two Olympic gold medals on Monday, 1 August 1932. The first was won by Tisdall.
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After winning his preliminary
Olympic heat in Los Angeles, Tisdall equaled the Olympic record of 52.8 seconds in the semi-finals. It was only the fifth time he competed at this event.
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Championship 440 yards (400 m) hurdles in June that year, the authorities agreed to let him run in his new event at the Los
Angeles Olympics, where he also came eighth in the
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At the age of 96 he fell down a steep set of rock stairs and broke his shoulder, ribs and ruptured his spleen. He never completely recovered and died on 27 July 2004, aged 97.
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314:. This record was only equalled nearly 60 years later. Tisdall had a chance to compete in five events, but selected Ted Cawston to run for him in the 220 yd (200 m)
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did not recognise the record at the time, they now recognise the mark, giving Tisdall credit for setting the milestone of being the first man under 52 seconds.
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Later in life, Tisdall lived in South Africa, where he ran a gymnasium during the day, which he converted to a night club after dark. He grew coffee in
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so that Cawston could receive his "blue". Cawston justified his selection by winning the event that Tisdall had won the previous two years.
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O'Duffy was convinced that Tisdall could achieve a good time and later invited Tisdall to compete in a special Olympic trial at
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torch relay at age 93. At that point he was the oldest living recipient of an individual track and field Olympic medal.
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rose bowl with the image of him knocking over the last hurdle etched into the glass. Though the
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569:"Athletics at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's Decathlon | Olympics at"
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In 1928, Ireland, as an independent nation, had won its first Olympic gold medal at
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In 2002, three statues honouring Olympic champions with links to Nenagh,
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noting that four Olympic hurdles champions appeared in that one race.
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His father won the All-Irish Sprint Championship; his mother played
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Statue of Tisdall and two other Olympic gold medalists (
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Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics
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Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
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619:Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen;
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429:and Bob Tisdall, were unveiled in front of the
675:Olympic champions in men's 400 metres hurdles
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69:Learn how and when to remove this message
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32:This article includes a list of general
1388:People from Central Province, Sri Lanka
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571:. Sports-reference.com. Archived from
527:: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
462:Olympic champions in the 400 m hurdles
376:) in Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland
1423:British expatriates in British Ceylon
1408:Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics
1393:People educated at Edgeborough School
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300:Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
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1373:Olympic gold medalists for Ireland
38:it lacks sufficient corresponding
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543:"IAAF - the Sport - 400m Hurdles"
357:for Ireland and was a formidable
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310:– in the annual match against
223:Robert Morton Newburgh Tisdall
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342:unexpected victory in the
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275:Juan Antonio Samaranch
256:Tisdall was raised in
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633:Sports Reference LLC
340:Dr Pat O'Callaghan's
247:1932 Summer Olympics
100:Personal information
1358:Irish male hurdlers
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1398:People from Nenagh
601:. 5 September 2002
595:"By Peter Gleeson"
509:on 31 January 2005
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262:1932 Olympic Games
233:– 27 July 2004 in
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639:on 17 April 2020.
599:New Ross Standard
549:on 19 August 2012
431:Nenagh Courthouse
296:Shrewsbury School
279:Waterford crystal
243:400-metre hurdles
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16:Irish athlete
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996:David Hemery
858:Glenn Hardin
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766:Frank Loomis
637:the original
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621:Mallon, Bill
603:. Retrieved
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577:. Retrieved
573:the original
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551:. Retrieved
547:the original
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511:. Retrieved
504:the original
499:
451:
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427:Johnny Hayes
423:Matt McGrath
420:
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390:Eoin O'Duffy
379:
374:Johnny Hayes
370:Matt McGrath
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289:Early career
266:world record
255:
227:Nuwara Eliya
222:
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156:Medal record
126:27 July 2004
112:Nuwara Eliya
80:
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37:
1353:2004 deaths
1348:1907 births
1134:Kevin Young
1088:Edwin Moses
1065:Volker Beck
1042:Edwin Moses
950:Glenn Davis
927:Glenn Davis
881:Roy Cochran
835:Bob Tisdall
605:16 November
579:15 November
553:16 December
316:low hurdles
251:Los Angeles
108:16 May 1907
85:Bob Tisdall
59:August 2024
51:introducing
1342:Categories
973:Rex Cawley
468:References
437:Later life
401:Croke Park
239:Queensland
142:Queensland
130:2004-07-28
34:references
336:Amsterdam
324:decathlon
304:long jump
170:athletics
146:Australia
523:cite web
456:See also
443:Tanzania
386:Maharaja
330:Olympics
308:shot put
245:at the
235:Nambour
187:Ireland
138:Nambour
128: (
47:improve
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513:22 May
359:golfer
355:hockey
344:hammer
312:Oxford
258:Nenagh
231:Ceylon
184:
168:Men's
116:Ceylon
36:, but
507:(PDF)
496:(PDF)
338:with
264:in a
1308:2024
1285:2020
1262:2016
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779:1924
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710:1904
687:1900
607:2019
581:2019
555:2013
529:link
515:2022
372:and
306:and
283:IAAF
123:Died
105:Born
1324:USA
1301:NOR
1278:USA
1255:DOM
1232:USA
1209:DOM
1186:USA
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1140:USA
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1094:USA
1071:GDR
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1002:GBR
979:USA
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910:USA
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864:USA
841:IRL
818:GBR
795:USA
772:USA
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703:USA
271:IOC
249:in
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