Maeve Esther Enid Kyle,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, née Shankey (born 6 October 1928), is an Irish Olympic athlete and hockey player. She was born in

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the ...

. She competed in the 100m and 200m in the Melbourne Olympics and subsequently in the Rome Olympics and Tokyo Olympics (where she reached the semi-finals of both the 400m and 800m). She took bronze in the 400m at the 1966

European Indoor Athletics Championships The European Athletics Indoor Championships is a biennial indoor track and field competition for European athletes that is organised by the European Athletic Association. It was held for the first time in 1970, replacing the European Indoor Games, ...

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is th ...

. 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. In

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

, she gained 58 Irish caps as well as representing three of the four Irish provinces (Leinster, Munster and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label=Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

) at different stages of her career. She was named in the World All Star team in 1953 and 1959. 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 sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

. Kyle briefly attended

Kilkenny College Kilkenny College is an independent Church of Ireland co-educational day and boarding secondary school located in Kilkenny, in the South-East of Ireland. It is the largest co-educational boarding school in Ireland. The school's students are mainly ...

where her father C.G. Shankey was headmaster, before attending

Alexandra College Alexandra College ( ir, Coláiste Alexandra) is a fee-charging boarding and day school for girls located in Milltown, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under a Church of Ireland ethos. History The school was founded in 1866 and takes its ...

and finally,

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. She is the granddaughter of William Thrift. Kyle was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2006 Coaching Awards in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

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. She was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

2008 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 29 December 2007, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2008. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and ...

Athletics international competitions

References

External links

Maeve KyleBallymena & Antrim Athletics ClubKyle named OBE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle, Maeve 1928 births Living people Irish female field hockey players Olympic athletes for Ireland Officers of the Order of the British Empire Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for Northern Ireland Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Athletes from County Kilkenny People educated at Kilkenny College Irish female sprinters Irish female middle-distance runners Alumni of Trinity College Dublin People educated at Alexandra College Irish Anglicans Ireland international women's field hockey players Pembroke Wanderers Hockey Club players Instonians field hockey players Olympic female sprinters Field hockey players from County Kilkenny