Martin Sheridan

{{MedalTableTop|Martin_Sheridan_1910_Mecca_card_front.jpg|250px|Martin Sheridan|medals=

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File:Martin Sheridan.jpg event at the 1908 Olympic Games in London.]]

File:Irish Whales John Flanagan Martin Sheridan James Mitchel.jpg and Martin Sheridan of the Irish American Athletic Club, with fellow Irishman James Mitchell of the New York Athletic Club at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, Missouri.]]

Martin John Sheridan (March 28, 1881 – March 27, 1918) was an Irish-American athlete and three time Olympic Games gold medallist in discus throw.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79031 |title=Martin Sheridan |work=Olympedia |access-date=February 2, 2021}}

Born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ireland, he was a participant of both the 1904 and the 1908 Olympic Games, and was part of a group of Irish-American athletes known as the "Irish Whales".

He died on 27 March 1918, at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan, New York, the day before his 37th birthday, from the Spanish flu pandemic. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York.

Career

At 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) and 194 lbs (88 kg), Sheridan was the best all-around athlete of the Irish American Athletic Club, and like many of his team mates, served with the New York City Police Department (from 1906 until his death in 1918). Sheridan was so well respected in the NYPD, that he served as the Governor's personal bodyguard when the governor was in New York City.[https://web.archive.org/web/20200417171247/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1906/ATH/mens-discus-throw.html Mens Discus Throw at Sports Reference]

A five-time Olympic gold medalist, with a total of nine Olympic medals, Sheridan was called "one of the greatest figures that ever represented this country in international sport, as well as being one of the most popular who ever attained the championship honor." He won the discus throw event at the 1904, 1906, and 1908 Summer Olympics as well as the shot put at the 1906 Olympics and the Greek discus in 1908. At the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens he also won silver medals in the standing high jump, standing long jump and the stone throw.

In 1907, Sheridan won the National Amateur Athletic Union discus championship and the Canadian championship, and in 1908 he won the Metropolitan, National and Canadian championships as well as two gold medals in the discus throw and bronze in the standing long jump at the 1908 Olympic Games.[http://www.wingedfist.com/sheridan.html 1910 Mecca Cigarettes Champion Athlete and Prize Fighter Series trading card.]

Two of Martin Sheridan's gold medals from the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, Missouri and one of his medals from the 1906 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, are currently located in the USA Track & Field's Hall of Fame History Gallery, in Washington Heights, Manhattan.

Legacy

It is often claimed that Sheridan fueled a controversy in London in 1908, when flagbearer Ralph Rose refused to dip the flag to King Edward VII. Sheridan is supposed to have supported Rose by explaining "This flag dips to no earthly king," and it is claimed that his statement exemplified both Irish and American defiance of the British monarchy. However, careful research has shown that this was first reported in 1952. Sheridan himself made no mention of it in his published reports on the Games and neither did his obituary.Mallon & Buchanan, Journal of Olympic History, Sept 1999

The inscription on the granite Celtic Cross monument marking Martin Sheridan's grave in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York says in part: "Devoted to the Institutions of his Country, and the Ideals and Aspirations of his Race. Athlete. Patriot."

According to his obituary in the New York Times, Sheridan was "one of the greatest athletes the United States has ever known".New York Times, March 28, 1918.

Notes

References

{{cite book|author=Cook, Theodore Andrea |title=The Fourth Olympiad London 1908 Official Report |publisher=British Olympic Association |location=London |date=May 1909 |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1908/1908.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222443/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1908/1908.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-09-27 |access-date=2008-12-29 }}
{{cite book | last = Greenberg | first = Stan | year = 1987 | title = Olympic Games: The Records | publisher = Guinness Books | location = London | isbn = 0-85112-896-3 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/olympicgamesreco00gree }}
{{cite book | last = Kieran | first = John | year = 1977 | title = The Story of the Olympic Games; 776 B.C. to 1976 | publisher = J.B. Lippincott Company | location = Philadelphia and New York | isbn = 0-397-01168-7 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/storyofolympicga0000kier_j1r1 }}
http://www.wingedfist.com/assets/Sheridan_from_Sprin_3100.pdf Police Athletes of the Past: Martin Sheridan - Spring 3100