John Alex Tynan (12 June 1933 – 16 June 2022) was an Irish athlete and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He was selected to compete at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

Career

Tynan started his sporting career as a

player with

Old Belvedere Old Belvedere R.F.C. is a senior Irish rugby union club based on Anglesea Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland. Old Belvedere was originally founded in 1918–19 by former pupils of Belvedere College. Old Belvedere enters senior men's teams in ...

. He was part of the team that won consecutive Leinster Senior Cups, later played for

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

and also had trials for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. Tynan was national sprint champion in 1951 and represented

Ireland at the 1952 Summer Olympics Ireland competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 19 competitors, all men, took part in 18 events in 6 sports. Ireland won its silver medal when John McNally reached the Bantamweight final Medalists Athletics Boxing Equ ...

, but he did not take part in any races.

Personal life and death

Tynan emigrated to Canada in the 1980s and worked for Gilbert Rugby. He died on 16 June 2022, aged 89.

Honours

;Old Belvedere * Leinster Senior Cup: 1951, 1952

References

1933 births 2022 deaths Old Belvedere R.F.C. players Leinster Rugby players Irish male sprinters Athletes from Dublin (city) Rugby union players from Dublin (city) People educated at Belvedere College 20th-century Irish sportsmen {{Ireland-sport-bio-stub