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Bob Tisdall

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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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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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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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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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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 647: 300:Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge 18: 13: 1373:Olympic gold medalists for Ireland 38:it lacks sufficient corresponding 14: 1439: 543:"IAAF - the Sport - 400m Hurdles" 357:for Ireland and was a formidable 1311: 1288: 1265: 1242: 1219: 1196: 1173: 1150: 1127: 1104: 1081: 1058: 1035: 1012: 989: 966: 943: 920: 897: 874: 851: 828: 805: 782: 759: 736: 713: 690: 629:Olympics at Sports-Reference.com 194: 179: 23: 1368:20th-century Anglo-Irish people 288: 1403:Athletes from County Tipperary 587: 561: 535: 310:– in the annual match against 223:Robert Morton Newburgh Tisdall 1: 467: 436: 380:Tisdall had, in the midst of 1418:Accidental deaths from falls 1378:Olympic athletes for Ireland 392:, then the President of the 7: 455: 329: 277:, presented Tisdall with a 10: 1444: 1428:Irish Free State sportsmen 394:Olympic Council of Ireland 342:unexpected victory in the 681: 175: 167: 163: 152: 122: 104: 99: 90: 1363:Sri Lankan male hurdlers 347:at Los Angeles in 1932. 53:more precise citations. 377: 275:Juan Antonio Samaranch 256:Tisdall was raised in 367: 633:Sports Reference LLC 340:Dr Pat O'Callaghan's 247:1932 Summer Olympics 100:Personal information 1358:Irish male hurdlers 87: 1398:People from Nenagh 601:. 5 September 2002 595:"By Peter Gleeson" 509:on 31 January 2005 378: 262:1932 Olympic Games 233:– 27 July 2004 in 83: 1335: 1334: 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 220: 219: 214: 213: 79: 78: 71: 1435: 1327: 1315: 1314: 1304: 1292: 1291: 1281: 1269: 1268: 1258: 1246: 1245: 1235: 1223: 1222: 1212: 1200: 1199: 1189: 1177: 1176: 1166: 1154: 1153: 1143: 1131: 1130: 1120: 1108: 1107: 1097: 1085: 1084: 1074: 1062: 1061: 1051: 1039: 1038: 1028: 1016: 1015: 1005: 993: 992: 982: 970: 969: 959: 947: 946: 936: 924: 923: 913: 901: 900: 890: 878: 877: 867: 855: 854: 844: 832: 831: 821: 809: 808: 798: 786: 785: 775: 763: 762: 752: 740: 739: 729: 717: 716: 706: 697:Walter Tewksbury 694: 693: 668: 661: 654: 645: 644: 640: 635:. 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Index

references
inline citations
improve
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Nuwara Eliya
Ceylon
Nambour
Queensland
Australia
athletics
Ireland
1932 Los Angeles
400 m hurdles
Nuwara Eliya
Ceylon
Nambour
Queensland
400-metre hurdles
1932 Summer Olympics
Los Angeles
Nenagh
1932 Olympic Games
world record
IOC
Juan Antonio Samaranch
Waterford crystal
IAAF
Shrewsbury School

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