Maeve Kyle


Maeve Esther Enid Kyle, OBE, née Shankey, is an Irish Olympic athlete and hockey player. She was born in County Kilkenny. She competed in the 100m and 200m in the Melbourne Olympics and subsequently in the Rome Olympics and Tokyo Olympics. She took bronze in the 400m at the 1966 European Indoor Athletics Championships in Dortmund. She won four gold medalsa in W45 Category in World Masters Championship in Gotenberg in the 100m, 400m, high jump and long jump. She held World Masters records at W40 for the 100m and 400m and W45 100m and W50 long jump at 5.04m
In hockey, she gained 58 Irish caps as well as representing three of the four Irish provinces 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 from the University of Ulster.
Kyle briefly attended Kilkenny College where her father C.G. Shankey was headmaster, before attending Alexandra College and finally, Trinity College, Dublin. She is the granddaughter of William Thrift. Kyle was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2006 Coaching Awards in London 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 in the 2008 New Year Honours.

Athletics international competitions