Denis Horgan

Irish shot putter

Olympic medal record
Men's athletics
	1908 London	Shot put

Denis Horgan (18 May 1871 – 2 June 1922) was a champion Irish athlete and weight thrower, born in Banteer, County Cork, who competed mainly in the shot put.^[1]

Biography

Shortly after setting a world's record of 48 feet 2 inches with the 16 pound shot at Queenstown,^{[citation needed]} in County Cork, Ireland in 1897, Horgan visited the U.S., and in 1900, he joined the Greater New York Irish Athletic Association, the predecessor of the Irish American Athletic Club for a brief period.^[2] In 1905, he joined the rival New York Athletic Club.^{[citation needed]}

In 1906, Horgan set the world's record for the 28 pound shot, with a distance of 35 feet, 4.5 inches at the Ancient Order of Hibernians games held at Celtic Park in Queens, New York.^[3]

He competed for Great Britain in the 1908 Summer Olympics held in London in the shot put, where he won the silver medal.^{[citation needed]}

Denis Horgan won a total 42 shot put titles during his athletic career, including 28 Irish championships,^{[citation needed]} 13 English championships (all for the 16 pound shot)^{[citation needed]} and one American championship.^{[citation needed]} Horgan was "usually so superior to his fellow competitors that he seldom trained in any sort of systematic way, yet he showed a marked consistency of performance, in all conditions, over a period of twenty years."^[4]

He emigrated to America where he worked as a police officer.^{[citation needed]} Whilst attempting to rescue a fellow Irishman he was severely stabbed and left for dead.^{[citation needed]} After he recovered he returned to Ireland, married, and settled in Crookstown.^[5]

Notes

^ "Denis Horgan". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
^ Katchen, Alan (2008). Abel Kiviat, National Champion: Twentieth-Century Track & Field and the Melting Pot. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0939-1.
^ NY Daily Tribune, Sunday 26 August 1906 ^{[full citation needed]}
^ Dooley, William (1946). Champions of the Athletic Arena. Dublin: General Publicity Services.
^ "A Great Irish Athlete". Dublin Evening Telegraph. 2 June 1922.

External links

Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Denis Horgan". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
Denis Horgan at databaseOlympics.com
Winged Fist Organization

AAA Championships winners in men's shot put

1876–1914