Paul Dolan: The Ballyshannon man who competed in two controversial Olympics

After a 12-year absence following the outbreak of World War II, the Olympic Games returned in 1948 – but the resumption was a controversial one in Ireland.

There was an ugly dispute ongoing between rival governing bodies for athletics in Ireland before the 1948 Games in London and many athletes were barred from taking part.

The National Athletic and Cycling Association of Ireland (NACAI) claimed a right to represent sportspeople from the 32 counties and their members weren't allowed into the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

The Amateur Athletic Union of Eire (AAUE) recognised the border and was accepted by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF). Two teams were selected to represent Ireland with the NACAI team barred and the AAUE team admitted to the Olympics in 1948.

‘Eire’ was emblazoned on the banner and the team manager refused to acknowledge it, saying that ‘the country is called Ireland’. The team eventually gave in and walked under the ‘Eire’ flag.

Among the 72 competitors from Ireland/Eire was Ballyshannon’s Paul Dolan, who was running with the Clonliffe Harriers club in Dublin at the time.

London wasn’t a memorable experience. In the 4x400m relay, the Irish team was disqualified.

Dolan was on the team alongside Charles Denroche, Jimmy Reardon and Reggie Myles.

The issue arose in the handover from Denroche to Myles. Dolan was reported as having ‘made up some ground’ for the team, but the damage had been done.

The conflict between the sport’s governors hadn’t been resolved in 1952 and Dolan’s Olympic hopes were in the balance in the run-up to Helsinki.

Dolan was proposed by the AAU but their applications were rejected by the standards committee which held their performance ‘not up to standard’.

However, at College Park, Dolan was a 300-yard invitation race for Clonliffe and he equalled the record of E MacDonald Balley when he finished in 30.7 seconds

“Never has Dolan put in a better finish and one felt as he tore up the straight, leaving Australian Olympic runner E Carr, who had started on the scratch mark with him, trailing behind that his flying feet were making a defiant gesture to the Irish Olympic Council, who didn’t consider him good enough,” was how the Independent saw it.

Soon, though, a telegram came through: “Your entries have been accepted by the authority of Edstrom-Holt.”

Mr EJ Holt was the secretary of the International Amateur Athletics Federation and Seigfrid Edstriom was the President of the International Olympic Council.

Dolan, along with marathon runner Joe West and hammer thrower CJ Reidy were on their way to Finland and a public appeal, to help fund the £750 cost, was launched.

Dolan competed in three events in Helsinki: the 100m, 200m and 400m.

Dolan didn’t qualify from the heat in the 100m, finishing third in his race to European title holder Roger Bailey of France and Bulgarian A Koleff.

In the 200m, he came home in 21 seconds, in second place, just behind LA Laing of Jamaica. In the second race in the 200m, Dolan came third, after being edged by Cuban R Fortune Chacon, who arrived with an ‘electrifying finishing burst’.

The luck of the draw was against Dolan in the 400m, as he found himself in the same heat as the eventual gold medallist George Rhoden.

“He ran smoothly on the back stretch and coming round into the straight he was having a great tussle with the Frenchman J Goudeau for second place behind the long-striding Rhoden,” the Independent recapped.

“Fifty yards from the tape he mastered Goudeau but the Pole G Mach came up on the outside and pipped Dolan on the last stride.”

Dolan lived on the Mall and went to St Joseph's NS in Ballyshannon before the family moved to Dublin. His sister, Anne, later married Republic of Ireland football icon John Giles.

John Ward, the editor of the since-defunct Donegal Vindicator, once wrote of the Ballyshannon native, Dolan: “Paul Dolan in full stride was like a bird in flight, his feet barely touching the ground.”