Ballymena Olympian and ‘pioneer of women's sport in Ireland' dies aged 96

Belfast Telegraph

13 hours ago

An acknowledgement of her role came from long standing contemporary and friend, 1972 Munich Olympic pentathlon gold medallist, Lady Mary Peters, who said: 'I have known Meave for 70 years and she was a pioneer of women's sport in both athletics and hockey for Ireland. She encouraged a lot of young people like me to get involved in sport. Now having made it to her 96th year may she rest in peace.'
Indomitable Maeve also rose above the politics of the time to compete at three Olympic Games and win 58 Ireland hockey caps.
A legendary figure in Irish sport, Maeve was born in Kilkenny in 1928 but lived most of her life in Ballymena where her legacy is most tangible, having founded the hugely successful talent producing Ballymena and Antrim Athletics Club with late husband Sean in 1955 and where she continued to coach well into her 80s.
On a wider sphere, Maeve paved the way for female athletes in a time where it was considered unseemly and almost dangerous for a woman to run, making her mark on the history books as the first Irish female athlete to compete at an Olympic Games and later as Ireland's first triple Olympian at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964.
She was the only woman on an 18-strong Irish team at the Melbourne Games in 1956 and the first to represent Ireland in Olympic track and field when, as a young mother, she faced considerable disapproval from conservative and clerical commentators of the time.
Maeve competed at three different Olympics – Melbourne, Rome and Tokyo. In Melbourne and Rome, she competed in the 100m and 200m, the only events open to women at the time as they didn't think that women would be able to run much further.
In Tokyo, she ran in the 400m and 800m, reaching the semi-finals of both. In the 400m at the 1966 European Indoor Athletics Championships in Dortmund, she won a bronze medal with a time of 57.3 seconds.
She also won 58 Irish caps in hockey (including a Triple Crown at Wembley in 1950) and, when iconic Dutch sprint superstar Fanny Blankers-Koen ran in Lansdowne Road two weeks after her four London Olympic golds in 1948, Kyle and her hockey colleague Joan O'Reilly provided the opposition.
At 42, Kyle qualified for the 400m final of the 1970 Commonwealth Games and went on to set many age-group world records in Masters sprints and long jump.
Despite her achievements in the Irish vest, in 1968 Maeve, and other Northern Ireland based athletes, were controversially prevented from competing in an international athletics meeting at Santry Stadium in Dublin.
Tensions between north and south athletic governing bodies led to Maeve actually being removed from the track while on the starting line.
On being told that even if you were born in the Republic of Ireland (as she was) but find yourself living in Northern Ireland (as she did), you were no longer eligible to take part as a member of the Irish team, Maeve spoke out strongly against the decision, saying it was a sad day when someone who had always been happy to represent her country is refused competition in her own country.
In hockey, she gained 58 Irish caps as well as representing three of the four Irish provinces (Leinster, Munster and Ulster) at different stages of her career. She was named in the World All Star team in 1953 and 1959.
She was also a strong competitor in tennis, swimming, sailing and cricket. In 2006 she was awarded and Honorary Doctorate by the University of Ulster.
Maeve was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2006 Coaching Awards in London in recognition of her work with athletes at the Ballymena and Antrim Athletics Club. Earlier in 2006 she was one of 10 players who were installed into an inaugural Irish Hockey Hall of Fame.
With her passing, generations of Irish sportswomen who followed in her slipstream owe a debt of gratitude to Maeve Kyle's role in breaking down barriers and changing attitudes to female participation across the board.