Maeve Kyle: Ireland's first female track and field Olympian dies aged 96

Maeve Kyle, who became Ireland's first female track and field Olympian at the 1956 summer Games in Melbourne, has died at the age of 96.

The Kilkenny native played hockey for Ireland before forging a successful international athletics career.

Her move to athletics, although she still played hockey, came after meeting Ballymena man Sean Kyle in 1953.

The athlete gave birth to daughter Shauna in 1954 after their marriage but was soon back in Olympic training.

The by-now Ballymena-based athlete's Olympic selection led a letter writer to the Irish Times branding her a "disgrace to Irish motherhood and the Irish nation" but the 28-year remained unperturbed as she ran in the 100m and 200m at the Melbourne Games after having to pay the then huge sum of £200 which the Olympic Council of Ireland had demanded of her.

Kyle went on to compete at further Olympic Games in Rome and Tokyo before winning a 400m bronze medal at the 1966 European Indoor Championships in Dortmund.

The Kilkenny-born woman continued to race into her 40s although she had also long since moved into coaching alongside her husband at the Ballymena & Antrim club which they had set up in 1955.

International athletes who benefited from the couple's guidance included high jump stars Sharon McPeake and Janet Boyle in addition to Mark Forsythe, Mark Kirk, Sean O'Neill, Eddie King and countless others down through the decades.

Mary Peters, who went on to achieve Olympic glory in 1972, had a stint at the Ballymena & Antrim club early in her career while both Kyles were continued to coach international athletes well into their 70s after the emergence of the likes of James McIlroy, Paul Brizzel, John McAdorey and Anna Boyle.

But while they nurtured many stars, their greatest contribution to the sport was the work that they did with the grassroots of the sport.

During the worst period of the Northern Ireland troubles in the early 1970s, the Kyles were instrumental in setting up Top Towns meetings which saw towns from Northern Ireland and even a number from the southern border counties compete in team athletics meetings.

Maeve had the distinction of operating as manager for both Great Britain and Ireland teams and as a 71-year-old coached the Irish relay squads at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

She was appointed an OBE in the 2008 New Year Honours list and also served as President of the then Northern Ireland Athletics Federation during the mid-1990s.

2008 also saw her being inducted into the RTE/Irish Sports Council's Hall of Fame as Ballymena & Antrim was named the UK's athletics club of the year while she was the recipient of the Belfast Telegraph/Sport Northern Ireland's Hall of Fame honour in 2009.

Maeve Kyle was predeceased by her husband Sean in November 2015 and is survived by daughter Shauna.