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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Rory Carroll, Ireland Correspondent

Ireland’s Tailteann games: forgotten Gaelic ‘Olympics’ that shaped a democracy

Irish player jumps to reach ball, tackled by US player behind him. Other US players close in
America v Ireland in Gaelic sports; the games were open to Irish citizens and members of the diaspora. Photograph: Independent News and Media/Getty Images

In the summer of 1924, Ireland did something extraordinary: it hosted the biggest sporting event in the world that year – bigger, even, than the Paris Olympics.

Thousands of competitors and tens of thousands of spectators packed venues around Dublin for an array of events encompassing not only athletics, swimming, horse racing, archery and other sports but also poetry, painting, dancing and sculpture.

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