Con Leahy

Con Leahy
	Leahy after winning the silver in the high jump at the 1908 Games.
Personal information
Born	27 April 1876; Creggane, Bruree, County Limerick, Ireland
Died	18 December 1921 (aged 45); New York, New York, U.S.
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Event	High jump
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing United Kingdom
Olympic Games
Intercalated Games
	Updated on 19 May 2012

Cornelius "Con" Leahy (27 April 1876 – 18 December 1921) was an Irish athlete, who won medals at the 1906 Intercalated Games and the 1908 Olympic Games for Great Britain.^[1]

Biography

Leahy was born in Creggane, outside Bruree, on the County Limerick-County Cork border, to Thomas Leahy and Mary McDonough.^[2] He was one of seven brothers, all of whom were sportsmen. His brother Patrick won the British high jump record in 1898 and went on to win Olympic medals in 1900. Another brother, Timothy, also jumped competitively.^[3]

Leahy won four consecutive British high jump title after winning the AAA Championships from the 1905 AAA Championships^[4] to the 1908 AAA Championships.^[5]^[6]^[7]

In 1906, Leahy, Peter O'Connor and John Daly, were entered for the Intercalated Games in Athens by the Irish Amateur Athletic Association (IAAA) and Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), representing Ireland.^{[citation needed]} However, the rules of the games were changed so that only athletes nominated by National Olympic Committees were eligible. Ireland did not have an Olympic Committee, and the British Olympic Council claimed the three. On registering for the Games, Leahy and his fellow-athletes found that they were listed as United Kingdom, not Irish, team members.^[8] Leahy was subsequently involved in the protest at the flag-raising ceremony for the long jump when O'Connor scaled a flagpole in the middle of the field and waved the Irish flag.^[9] Leahy won the gold medal in the high jump with 1.775 meters, beating Hungarian Lajos Gönczy by 2.5 cm. After his victory was certain, Leahy still tried to reach 1.83 meters, but he failed at this height twice. Leahy then took part in the hop, step and jump, which O'Connor won with 14.075 meters with Leahy coming second with 13.98 meters.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1908 Olympic Games, Leahy again took part in the high jump. Three jumpers, Leahy, Géo André and István Somodi, shared second place with 1.88 meters behind the American Harry Porter, who won with 1.90 meters.^[10]

Later years and death

In 1909 Con and Patrick Leahy emigrated to the United States. Con died in Manhattan in 1921. In 2006, to mark the 100th anniversary of his Olympic medal win, a memorial was unveiled in Thomas Street, Limerick.^[11]

Record

1906: Gold medal, High jump; Silver medal, hop, step and jump (triple jump)
1908: Silver medal, High jump

References

^ "Con Leahy". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
^ "General Registrar's Office". IrishGenealogy.ie. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
^ Con Leahy Bio, Stats, and Results. Sports Reference. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
^ "Amateur Athletic Championships". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 3 July 1905. Retrieved 19 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists". National Union of Track Statisticians. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
^ "Champion athletes". Daily Record. 8 July 1907. Retrieved 22 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "AAA Championships". Sporting Life. 8 July 1907. Retrieved 22 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ Llewellyn, Matthew P. 2014. Rule Britannia: Nationalism, Identity and the Modern Olympic Games. Routledge. ISBN 9781317979760. p. 30.
^ Dwyer, Ryle. (27 July 2012). Our forgotten Olympians. Irish Examiner. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
^ Athletics at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's High Jump. Sports Reference. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
^ Limerick County Council annual report 2006 Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine

Sources

Ian Buchanan: British Olympians, Enfield 1991 ISBN 0-85112-952-8
Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century 1896–1996 Track and Fields Athletics, Berlin 1999

[1] "Con Leahy". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 March 2021.

[2] "General Registrar's Office". IrishGenealogy.ie. Retrieved 18 December 2016.

[3] Con Leahy Bio, Stats, and Results. Sports Reference. Retrieved 25 January 2018.

[4] "Amateur Athletic Championships". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 3 July 1905. Retrieved 19 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[5] "AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists". National Union of Track Statisticians. Retrieved 1 August 2024.

[6] "Champion athletes". Daily Record. 8 July 1907. Retrieved 22 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[7] "AAA Championships". Sporting Life. 8 July 1907. Retrieved 22 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[8] Llewellyn, Matthew P. 2014. Rule Britannia: Nationalism, Identity and the Modern Olympic Games. Routledge. ISBN 9781317979760. p. 30.

[9] Dwyer, Ryle. (27 July 2012). Our forgotten Olympians. Irish Examiner. Retrieved 25 January 2018.

[10] Athletics at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's High Jump. Sports Reference. Retrieved 25 January 2018.

[11] Limerick County Council annual report 2006 Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

v t e US National Championship winners in men's high jump
1876–1878 New York Athletic Club	1876-8: Edwards Ficken
1879–1888 NAAAA	1879: William Wunder 1880: Alfred Carroll 1881: C.W. Durand 1882: Alfred Carroll 1883: Malcolm Ford 1884: J.T. Rinehart 1885–87: William Page 1888^{Note 1}: Tim O'Connor
1888–1979 Amateur Athletic Union	1888^{Note 1}: Daniel Webster 1889: R.K. Pritchard 1890–91: Alvah Nickerson 1892–95: Mike Sweeney 1896: Charles Powell 1897–1900: Irving Baxter 1901: Sam Jones 1902: Irving Baxter 1903-4: Sam Jones 1905: Herbert Kerrigan 1906: Neil Patterson 1907: Con Leahy 1908: Harry Porter 1909: Egon Erickson 1910: Walter Thomason 1911: Harry Grumpelt/Harry Porter 1912: John Johnstone 1913: Alma Richards 1914: Jo Loomis 1915: George Horine 1916: Wes Oler 1917: Clint Larsen 1918: Carl Rice 1919–20^OT: John Murphy 1921–22: Dewey Alberts 1923: LeRoy Brown 1924: Robert Juday 1925–26: Harold Osborn 1927: Robert King 1928^OT: Robert King/Charles McGinnis 1929: Henry Lassalette 1930–31: Anton Burg 1932^OT: Cornelius Johnson/George Spitz/Robert van Osdel 1933: Cornelius Johnson 1934: Cornelius Johnson/Walter Marty 1935: Cornelius Johnson 1936: Cornelius Johnson/Dave Albritton 1937: Dave Albritton 1938: Mel Walker/Dave Albritton 1939–40: Les Steers 1941: Bill Stewart 1942: Adam Berry 1943: Pete Watkins 1944: Fred Sheffield/Willard Smith 1945: Dave Albritton/Lester Howe/Richard Schnacke/Joshua Williamson 1946–47: Dave Albritton 1948: Tom Schofield 1949: Dick Phillips 1950: Dave Albritton/Jack Heitzman/Jack Razzeto/Virgil Severns 1951: Lewis Hall 1952–53: Walt Davis 1954: Ernie Shelton 1955: Charles Dumas/Ernie Shelton 1956–59: Charles Dumas 1960: John Thomas 1961: Bob Avant 1962: John Thomas 1963: Gene Johnson 1964: Ed Caruthers 1965–67: Otis Burrell 1968: Ed Hanks 1969: Otis Burrell 1970–71: Reynaldo Brown 1972: Barry Schur 1973–74: Dwight Stones 1975: Tom Woods 1976–78: Dwight Stones 1979: Franklin Jacobs
1980–1992 The Athletics Congress	1980: Franklin Jacobs 1981: Tyke Peacock 1982: Milt Ottey 1983: Dwight Stones 1984: Jim Howard 1985: Brian Stanton 1986: Doug Nordquist 1987: Jerome Carter 1988: Doug Nordquist 1989: Brian Brown 1990–92^OT: Hollis Conway
1993-onwards USA Track & Field	1993–94: Hollis Conway 1995–2000^2OT: Charles Austin 2001–02: Nathan Leeper 2003–04^OT: Jamie Nieto 2005: Matt Hemingway 2006: Tora Harris 2007: Jim Dilling 2008^OT: Jesse Williams 2009: Tora Harris 2010–11: Jesse Williams 2012^OT: Jamie Nieto 2013–16: Erik Kynard 2017:Bryan McBride 2018–19: Jeron Robinson 2021^{2020 OT}: JuVaughn Harrison
Notes	Note 1: In 1888 both the NAAAA and the AAU held championships OT: The 1920, 1928, 1932 and since 1992, championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event. 2020 OT: The 2020 Olympic Trials were delayed and held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.