Declan Burns
Declan Burns (born June 26, 1956) is an Irish sprint canoer who competed from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, he was eliminated in the repechages of both the K-2 500 m and the K-4 1000 m events. Four years later in Moscow, Burns was eliminated in the repechages of the K-1 500 m event. At his third and final Summer Olympics in Seoul, he was eliminated in the semifinals of the K-2 1000 m event.
History
Declan, to his own disliking, is more widely recognised for his participation in the 'Superstars' event and his pull-up record breaking credentials. Declan would have preferred being more recognised for his first sport, kayaking, but his all round ability as an athlete led him to this new challenge. Declan won the 1980 Irish Superstars and went on to compete on the world stage in Key Biscine, Florida. Declan performed well in all events and set a new world record for pull-ups in a minute (57 at the time) but fell just short of first place to South African racing driver Jody Schekter. Declan's incredible performance on the world stage propelled him to fame in his own country of Ireland, he became a household name in the process. He broke the world record for pull-ups on numerous occasions and is what he became most famous for in his home country.
Declan also participated at many world championships, most notably in Duisburg in '79 when he exited at the semi-final stage of the K1-500 after coming 4th, to the eventual gold, silver and bronze medal winners of the event. It would have been Declan's maiden final appearance. Declan also tried his hand at triathlon during the mid-80s to good success but he returned to kayaking in '87 and made the '88 Olympics with K2 partner Peter Connor (canoer).
Nowadays Declan lives just outside Enniskillen in a townland called Coa with his family.