An Irishwoman’s Diary Episode 8: 'A disgrace to motherhood’ Olympic legend - Maeve Kyle

 


This is series 2 of An Irishwoman’s Diary from The Deirdre
O’Shaughnessy Podcast, search in your podcast app for An
Irishwoman’s Diary to find the six-episode Series 1.


She competed in three separate Olympic games; competed for
Ireland in hockey, tennis, sailing and cricket, and even won the
support of Eamon deValera who sought her out to compliment her
“fine race” at Trinity College in the early 1950s.


But Maeve Kyle fought against all the odds, including her own
in-laws, when she decided to compete in the Olympics despite
having recently become a mother for the first time.


A letter writer to the Irish Time described her as a “disgrace to
motherhood” , but she blew off the criticism to become a popular
sporting figure and the backbone of athletics in Ireland for many
years.


Irish Examiner columnist Clodagh Finn joins Deirdre to discuss
the woman who became known, rather inaptly, as ‘The Kilkenny
Kitten’.


Read Clodagh’s column here: Clodagh Finn: They called Maeve Kyle
a disgrace to motherhood — then she became an Irish Olympic icon


An Irishwoman's Diary series 1: Meet the Irish women who left
their mark on history


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