David Guiney

David Guiney (1921–2000) was an Irish Olympic athlete, sports journalist and historian.^[1]

Birth and childhood

He was born 31 January 1921 in Kanturk, Co. Cork, one of four sons of John Guiney, solicitor and nationalist MP for Cork North (1913–18), and Mary Guiney (née Buckley) of O'Brien St, Kanturk. He was educated locally and at TCD, deciding to join the Civil Service before he had completed his degree.

Sporting career

He played Gaelic football, hurling, and rugby for his native Kanturk, played rugby with Clontarf in Dublin, and competed with the Civil Service, Dublin University, Clonliffe Harriers, and Donore Harriers athletic clubs, affiliated to the AAU at the time of Ireland’s athletics dispute, and competed in the shot putt at the 1948 Olympics. He won a total of thirty Irish titles the last in 1956, as weight thrower, sprinter and long jumper (tying for the 1941 NACA senior long jump championship with international soccer and rugby player Kevin O'Flanagan (1919–2006). In 1941 won national junior titles in five different disciplines: the shot put, javelin, discus, high jump, and broad jump. He was twice shot-put champion at the London Amateur Athletics Association championship in 1947 and 1948. His 1953 putt of 15.14m stood as an Irish record for ten years.

Journalism

In 1946 he resigned from his post in the civil service after being refused leave to represent Ireland in the European Championships in Oslo and turned to journalism shortly afterwards. He began his career as a journalist with the Irish Independent and subsequently became sports editor of the Irish Press in 1964. He also worked for a number of now-defunct British Sunday papers, including the Sunday Graphic, Empire News, Reynolds’ News, and Sunday Dispatch. In the early 1970s he moved to the Sunday Mirror as Irish sports editor, while remaining based in Dublin, and wrote a regular column for the Cork Evening Echo.

Books

He was acknowledged as Ireland's foremost authority on the Olympics and published over thirty books on a wide variety of sports, including Gaelic games, rugby, soccer and golf.Books on the Olympic games included The friendly Olympics (1982), written about the 1932 games; and Ireland and the Olympic games (1976). He also wrote four books of sporting reminiscences: A little wine and a few friends (1976), The days of the little green apples (1976), Good days and good friends (1985), and Happy hours (1994.

Award schemes

He was involved in the establishment and development of many Irish sports awards, including the All-Stars and the GAA Player of the Month scheme. His roles included chair of the Association of Sports Journalists of Ireland (ASJI), and being prominent in the International Sports Press Association, and the International Association of Olympic Historians (ISOH) as well as being a former chairman of the Rugby Writers of Ireland.

Marriage and death

He married Phyllis (‘Phyl’) Ludgate from Dublin in 1947, a relation of the Irish champion weight thrower Tom Ludgate; they had three children. He died after a short illness in the Mater Hospital on October 14, 2000, and was cremated after a funeral service in St Mary's Church of Ireland, Howth.

References

↑ Irish Times, Oct 21 2000; Irish Independent, Oct 16 2000, Irish Examiner, Oct 16 & 19 2000; Sunday Independent, Oct 22 2000

External links

Irish Independent The man from Duhallow

AAA Championships winners in men's shot put

1876–1914	1880: William Winthrop 1881: Maurice Davin (IRL) 1882: George Ross 1883–84: Owen Harte (IRL) 1885: Donald McKinnon 1886–87: James Mitchell (IRL) 1888: George Gray CAN 1889: William Barry (IRL) & R.A. Greene 1890: R.A. Greene 1891–92: William Barry (IRL) 1893–99: Denis Horgan (IRL) 1900: Richard Sheldon USA 1901–02: Wesley Coe USA 1903: Tom Nicolson 1904–05: Denis Horgan (IRL) 1906–07: Tom Kirkwood 1908–10: Denis Horgan (IRL) 1911: John Barrett (IRL) 1912: Denis Horgan (IRL) 1913: Einar Nilsson SWE 1914: Armas Taipale FIN

1919–39	1919: Bertil Jansson SWE 1920: Raoul Paoli FRA 1921: Bertil Jansson SWE 1922: Ville Pörhölä FIN 1923: John Barrett IRL 1924: Reginald "Rex" Woods 1925: Herb Schwarze USA 1926: Reginald "Rex" Woods 1927: Georg Brechenmacher GER 1928: Édouard Duhour FRA 1929: József Darányi HUN 1930: Jules Noël FRA 1931: József Darányi HUN 1932: Harry Hart SAF 1933–34: Zygmunt Heljasz POL 1935–36: Aad de Bruyn NED 1937: Hans Woellke GER 1938: Angiolo Profeti ITA 1939: Aad de Bruyn NED

1946–59	1946: Aad de Bruyn NED 1947–48: David Guiney IRL 1949: John Giles 1950: Petar Šarčević YUG 1951: Gunnar Huseby ISL 1952–54: John Savidge 1955–56: Barclay Palmer 1957–59: Arthur Rowe

1960–present	1960–61: Arthur Rowe 1962: Jay Silvester USA 1963: Mike Lindsay 1964–65: Vilmos Varjú HUN 1966: Jan Botha RSA 1967: Dawid Booysen RSA 1968–69: Jeff Teale 1970–71: Les Mills NZL 1972–73: Geoff Capes 1974: Al Feuerbach USA 1975–79: Geoff Capes 1980: Brian Oldfield USA 1981–82: Mike Winch 1983: Mike Carter USA 1984: Mike Winch 1985–86: Billy Cole 1987: Paul Edwards 1988–89: Simon Williams 1990–92: Paul Edwards 1993: Matt Simson 1994: Paul Edwards 1995: Mark Proctor 1996: Matt Simson 1997: Steph Hayward 1998–99: Mark Proctor 2000: Steph Hayward 2001–02: Mark Proctor 2003–10: Carl Myerscough

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