Olympian, Papal Knight and a proud Irishman is profiled by EILEEN CASEY

 

The Olympics of 1896 proved memorable in many respects. Held in Athens, then officially known as the Games of the Olympiad, it was the first international Olympic Games in modern history. From an Irish perspective, John Pius Boland, born at 135 Capel Street, Dublin 1, was introduced to a global audience.

Born in 1870, son of Patrick Boland (of Boland’s Mills baking family) and Mary Donnelly, he was one of seven children. His mother died when John Pius was only seven years old and so, when his father passed away five years later, his maternal uncle Nicholas Donnelly, Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, became the children’s guardian.

Such influence hallmarked the illustrious life of letters which followed. Educated in the Catholic University School in Dublin, and then Cardinal Newman’s Oratory School, Birmingham, John Pius became head boy. He was already in training for the leadership qualities displayed throughout his private and public life. His educational credentials included a BA from London University and a BA and MA in law from Oxford University. In 1897 he was called to the bar but never practised. Fate had other ideas.

From a humble address in the heart of Dublin City (now a soft furnishing outlet), to the Olympic podium certainly maps a journey; an arduous route travelled via dedication and discipline. Four years after completing his law degree, instead of revealing and revelling in his court room skills, John Pius found himself earning international acclaim as the first Olympiad tennis champion.

At the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, he won both the singles and doubles titles. The promising aptitude he showed as a young boy (which was encouraged by his teachers) reaped the rewards of his ongoing commitment to the sport. However, it was not originally his intention to enter himself into the Games. This came about purely by chance, or a happy accident of fate.

John Pius happened to be visiting Thrasyvoulos Manos, a friend, in Athens during the Olympics. Manos was connected to the Organising Committee for the Games and he somehow persuaded his reluctant friend to enter the tennis tournament.

Peculiarly, although tennis clothing and a tennis racquet were easily found; John Pius had no proper tennis shoes so played his matches wearing ordinary leather shoes.

After laying waste to his opponents from Germany and Greece, John Pius, in the words of the newspapers of the day, ‘smashed his way into the final’. There was no-one more surprised than himself when he beat Dionysios Kasdaglis of Egypt to secure the singles title. He subsequently teamed up with Germany’s Traun to play the doubles (against players from Egypt and Greece). The rest is history.

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