Maeve Kyle

Maeve Esther "Flumpy" Enid Kyle, OBE, née Shankey (born 6 October 1928), is an Irish former Olympic athlete and hockey player. She competed in three Olympic Games: at the 1956 Summer Olympics, the 1960 Summer Olympics and the 1964 Summer Olympics.

Maeve Kyle

OBE

Personal information
Born	(1928-10-06) 6 October 1928 (age 96) County Kilkenny, Ireland
Sport
Country	Ireland
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	100, 200, 400 800 meters
Club	Ballymena and Antrim AC
Medal record European Indoor Championships 1966 Dortmund 400m

Maeve Kyle

Personal information
Full name	Maeve Esther Enid Kyle
Born	(1928-10-06) 6 October 1928 (age 96) Ireland
Height	183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Senior career
Years	Team
	Instonians

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.^[1] She was also a competitor in tennis, swimming, sailing and cricket and now works as a coach. She is chair of Coaching NI. In 2006, she was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of the University (DUniv) from the University of Ulster.^[1]

Biography

Kyle, born in Urlingford, County Kilkenny, briefly attended Kilkenny College, where her father C.G. Shankey was headmaster, before attending Alexandra College and finally, Trinity College, Dublin. She is the granddaughter of William Thrift.

At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Kyle competed in the 100-metre and 200-metre events.^[2]

Kyle finished third behind Janet Gaunt in the pentathlon event at the 1958 WAAA Championships.^[3][4]

At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, she compted in both the 100 and 200 metre events and the following year won the British WAAA 440 yards event at the 1961 WAAA Championships.^[5][6]

At the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, she reached the semi-finals of both the 400m and 800m.^[2] In 1966, she took bronze in the 400m at the 1966 European Indoor Athletics Championships in Dortmund.^[2]

She won four gold medals in the W45 category at the 1977 World Masters Championship in Gothenburg in the 100m, 400m, high jump, and long jump. She held World Masters records in the W40 category for the 100m (12.00 secs) and 400m (55.30 secs), in the W45 category for the 100m (12.50 secs), and in the W50 category for the long jump at 5.04m.^{[citation needed]}

Kyle was awarded the 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 initially installed into Irish hockey's Hall of Fame.^[7] She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.

Athletics international competitions

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Ireland
1956	Summer Olympics	Melbourne, Australia		100m	12.3
				200m	26.4
1960	Summer Olympics	Rome, Italy		100m	12.59
				200m	25.06
1962	European Championships	Belgrade, Yugoslavia	6th	400m	57.5
				800m	2:13.0 NR
1964	Summer Olympics	Tokyo, Japan		400m	semi-finals 55.3
				800m	semi-finals (2:11.3)
1966	European Indoor Athletics Championships	Dortmund, Germany	3rd	400m	57.3
	European Athletics Championships	Budapest, Hungary		400m	55.4
				800m	2:13.2