Welcome to the Martin Sheridan Bursary Information Page

2024 Applications now open -Closing date for receipt of entries is now Friday 10th May 2024

Applications for the 2024 Martin Sheridan Bursary awards, in association with The Western People, are now open. Details and criteria for application are available by emailing:  martinsheridanbursary@gmail.com  or  at the  information for nominees section on this site.

The Committee are grateful to Mayo County Council for their continued and ongoing support of the awards. 


link to No Earthly King Documentary 

This documentary looks at Irish Olympic success before Ireland competed as an Independent country.

It explores the period of the first four Olympic games, where Irish athletes won 25 gold medals competing for other countries by necessity rather than choice.

At the heart of the story is a Mayo man, Martin Sheridan from Bohola, who won five Olympic gold medals between 1904 and 1908. As well leading the world in discus and shot putt, Sheridan was also famed for a slight to the King of England when he claimed the American flag dipped to no earthly king 

Post date: 16-May-2013 21:27:14

About Martin Sheridan -Ireland's Greatest Olympian

 Martin Sheridan was born in Bohola, County Mayo on the 28th March, 1881.  At 18 years of age he emigrated to America and joined the New York Police Force.  He trained as part of the NYP Athletics Team and  qualified to represent the United States in the Olympic Games.  Over a period of fourteen years, he won more Olympic Medals than any other Irish Athlete – Five Gold, Three Silver and one Bronze.  He also won twelve US Championships and over Thirty Canadian, Metropolitan and Regional Championships.  In the course of his career, he established sixteen world records and was considered virtually unbeatable. Martin died at the age of 36 from a viral infection.  In 1988, he was the first Irishman to be inducted into the prestigious National Track and Field Hall of Fame in Indianapolis.  Very few athletes have come up to Martin’s all round individual performance and his name will always be remembered in athletic circles as one of the all time greats.  In Bohola today, The Sheridan Memorial Community Centre is dedicated to his memory along with a very impressive memorial which stands in the grounds of the Community Centre.  

 

   Link to Wikipedia page on Martin Sheridan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Sheridan