| NORTHERN IRELAND AT THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES |
| So what did you think of the performances of the Northern Ireland athletes at the 17th Commonwealth Games? The press have been generally positive with the exception of Adrian Logan in the Belfast Telegraph who basically said it was a waste of time sending most of them. I would be interested in hearing Mr. Logan at a selection meeting setting out his criteria for selection. If, as it would appear, nothing less than a medal winning performance is acceptable then the Games would make really exciting viewing with no more than three in each event. Lets us get things in perspective here. The Commonwealth Games has representitives from 72 countries and most of them produce athletes. There are some sports, with which Mr. Logan is perhaps better acquainted, which are not played in many other countries . OK some Commonwealth counties like the Niue Islands or the Norfolk Islands may not be the toughest opposition in the world but what about Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Kenya etc. etc. ? Our athletes were up against some of the best in the world and most of them, in my humble opinion, did exceptionally well. Mrs. McCluskey answered her doubters after Belfast (and I admit to being one) with a superb 5th place in the marathon; Zoe Brown equalled the British Junior record with a new NI Record of 4.00 metres; James McIlroy had a chance of a medal but sixth in the final and the only Brit. is still a great achievement; Kelly McNeice twice broke her personal best and made the 1500 metres final and Colm McLean made the mens 1500 final; Paul McKee got to the 400 metres semi final and ran one of the fastest ever times by an Irishman; Jacqui McKernan, in her fifth Commonwealth Games again made the final; the most disappointing were perhaps Eva Massey and Michael Allen who due to injury were not able to reproduce the performances which had merited their selection. All in all I think our athletes did us proud and contrary to Mr. Logan and a few others I still feel that there were athletes left behind who would also have produced performances worthy of wearing the Northern Ireland vest. What follows is a record of the performances of Northern Ireland athletes at the Commonwealth Games. While I had a lot of material myself I am indebted to the authors of "Athletics at the Commonwealth Games" namely Rob Whittingham, Paul Jenes and Stan Greenberg for filling in a lot of details. I strongly recommend anyone interested in athletics to get hold of a copy of this magnificent book which is published by Umbra Athletics Ltd. On a personal note it is perhaps sad when browsing through the names to see how few have made any contribution to the sport after their international career was over. Some were never seen again after their Commonwealth performances, in fact a few were never seen before their Commonwealth performances but that is just another personal gripe. We could do with a few more like John McLoughlin, Joan Stewart (Atkinson), Adrienne Smyth (Lynch) Pam Brown (Reece) and Maeve Kyle who are regular officials throughout the summer. If I have made any typographical or other errors, let me know. |
| 1934 London Jack Parker 5th 3 miles Maurice Tait 10th Long Jump Bertie Shillington 14th Long Jump / 6th Triple jump 13.69m Edward Boyce 4th Triple Jump 1938 Sydney Alex Haire 8th Heat 1 880 Yards / 8th Heat 2 1 Mile Bertie Shillington 6th Triple Jump 13.94m John Clarke no height Pole Vault / 8th Javelin 49.65m 1950 Auckland No Competitors 1954 Vancouver Victor Milligan 4th Mile of the Century 4:05.0 Rab Crossan 6th Marathon 3:00;13 Jim Lally 7th Hammer 47.88 Kevin Flanagan 7th Javelin 61.67 Thelma Hopkins 1st High Jump 1.67 / 2nd Long Jump 5.84 /4th Heat 2 80 Metres hurdles 11.4 1958 Cardiff Gordon Hamilton 5th heat 3 100 Yards 10.4 / 3rd Heat 2 4th QF2 220 Yards 22.21 / 22.39 20th Long Jump 6.89 Peter Street 5th Heat 7 100 Yards 10.3 / 4th Heat 4 6th QF 3 220 Yards 23.31 / 22.94 Paddy Toner 3rd Heat 10 5th QF 3 100 Yards 10.1 / 10.5 4th Heat 6 6th QF 6 220 Yards 22.55 / 22.62 Ronnie Chambers 5th Heat 12 100 Yards10.2 Billy Dundas 4th Heat 4 440 Yards 51.0 Colin Shillington 5th Heat 4 880 Yards 1:57.06 7th Heat 2 One Mile Billy McCue 17th 3 Miles Jimmy Todd 19th Marathon 3:01.28 John Henning 20th Marathon 3:07.51 Des Price 4th heat 1 120 Yards Hurdles Mark Cumming 3rd Heat 3 5th SF 2 440 Yards Hurdles 55.4 / 59.38 Thomas Cairns 21st Long Jump 6.72 16th Triple Jump 14.13 Dick Millar 4th Javelin 66.96 4 x 110 Yards Relay 5th Heat 1 42.97 Toner Hamilton Street Chambers Maeve Kyle 4th Heat 6 100 Yards 11.58 4th Heat 2 220 Yards 25.86 Thelma Hopkins 8th High Jump 1.57 7th Long Jump 5.55 Mary Peters =10th High Jump 1.47 8th Shot Putt 11.21 Bridget Robinson 8th Javelin 36.67 4 x 110 Yards Relay 6th Hopkins Robinson Peters Kyle !!!! 50.43 (50.12 SF 1962 Perth Dave Davidson 10th Shot Put 14.60 Dick Millar 7th Javelin 63.54 Joan Atkinson 5th Heat 2 100 Yards 11.58 4th Heat 2 220 Yards 25.71 Thelma Hopkins 9th High Jump 1.65 6th Long Jump 5.72 Mary Peters 4th Shot Putt 13.31 |
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