Tom Kiely: Won Gold in 1904 Summer Olympics

Tom Kiely was born on 25 AUG 1869 at Ballyneale, near Carrick-on-Suir. Standing 6ft 1 inch and weighing 14 stone in his prime, Tom developed into a fine athlete. Captain of the Grangemockler gaelic football team, he played for Tipperary and, in 1896, was picked for the Munster hurling team, which beat Leinster in London. In 1906, Tom Kiely refereed a game between Tipperary and Kilkenny in New York.

Spurred on by his younger brother Laurence, a keen athlete who went on to compete at the 1908 London Olympics, and close by the Kiely lived the great athletes Maurice, Pat, and Tom Davin, who won innumerable Irish and English titles between them and set many world records. In 1884, Maurice Davin became the first President of the GAA. In all, ‘Champion Kiely’ won an astounding 53 Irish championships, as well as five English AAA hammer titles.

On 10 SEP 1892, at the age of 23, when he won his first GAA athletic title, he won a total of seven GAA championships that afternoon at Jones’s Road [now Croke Park] in Dublin. Although offered passage and expenses by the British and sponsorship by the Americans, Tom Kiely proudly refused to represent any country but Ireland at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, USA. Arriving in America on June 2, on the liner Teutonic, the New York Times ran a headline the next day in it’s newspaper: “Ireland’s Champion Athlete, Thomas F. Kiely, Here To Compete In The Olympic Games.”.

He competed in the all-round contest [precursor of the decathlon] with all ten events held on the one day. Held on July 4, on a wet day, Tom Kiely won the Olympic gold medal with a total of 6036 points [100yd, 11.2e; shot putt, 10.82m; high jump, 1.52m; 880yd walk, 3:59.0; hammer, 36.76m, pole vault, 2.74m; 120yd hurdles, 17.8; 56lb weight throw, 8.91m; long jump, 5.94m; mile, 5:51.0]. In fourth place, Kiely’s result was received with John Holloway, from boundless enthusiasm by Irishmen all the world over.

In New York, a reception was organized by the local Irish Association, where he was presented with a twelve-inch-high, silver-plated “loving cup,” which is on display along with the medal in the South Tipperary County Museum, located in Mick Delahunty Square, Clonmel. The all-round contest in St. Louis also served as the US all-round championship, which Tom Kiely also won in 1906. His last appearance competing was in 1908, when he travelled by request to help a small rural meeting outside Buttevant, Co. Cork.

The hurdles were irregularly placed and nailed on. For the first time ever, the master hurdler hit one and fell heavily, breaking his shoulder. “Hard luck, Tom was told. “All in the game, boy,” he replied, smiling contentedly. He was also an expert Irish step-dancer and played the fiddle and flute. After leaving Ballyneale, he farmed at Fruit Hill, Dungarvan Church, near Piltown—before moving—and later at Graigue House, going to Shawfield, Deerpark, and Carrick-on-Suir just across the fields from the Davins.

Tom Kiely died on 6 November 1951, age 82, and is buried in the family plot in Ballyneale Cemetery. A memorial was erected in the church. He was a true sportsman.  In 1978 outside Ballyneale, the son of Knocknagow and pride of Tipperary, a super Matt-the-Thresher come to life, straight out of Charles Kickham’s classic story.

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