Eamonn Coghlan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Country | Ireland | |
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| Date of birth | November 21, 1952 | |
| Place of birth | Dublin, Ireland | |
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Eamon Coghlan (born November 21, 1952) is an Irish 4-time Olympian and retired runner. Coghlan was born in Drimnagh, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland. He was very small so he had disadvantages against larger runners throughout his career.
Coghlan's first running club was the now defunct Celtic Athletic Club. On its break up he moved to the Metropolitan Harriers club where he won the Leinster colleges 5000m title in 1970. The following year he won the All-Ireland 1500 metres and 5000 metres titles. In 1971 he was offered a scholarship by Villanova University. The famous running coach Jumbo Elliott who had coached Irish 1500 meter gold medalist Ronnie Delany invited Eamonn to train for their track and field team. At Villanova University he won four NCAA individual titles over 1500 meters and the mile. In 1975 Eamonn ran his first sub 4 minute mile in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and set a new Irish record for the mile (3:53.2).
He was nicknamed "The Chairman of the Boards" because of his success on indoor tracks. He set the world record in the indoor mile run at 3:50.6 in 1981 and again in 1983 at New Jersey's Meadowlands running a 3:49.78. The record stood until 1997 when it was broken by Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj in a time of 3:48.45. As of June 2006, Coghlan's 1983 time remains the fastest mile ever run in the United States, and one of only three sub-3:50 miles run on American soil. His indoor success exceeded his success in outdoor running where, nothwithstanding a later world title in 1983 over 5000 meters, he did not achieve as much as many pundits had expected.
Coghlan also set the record for the indoor 2000 meter run at 4:54.07 in 1987 which stood until Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia ran 4:52.86 in 1998. Coghlan won the world famous Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose games in NYC's Madison Square Garden a record seven times (1977, 1979-81, 1983, 1985, 1987).
He won the 5000 metres at the 1983 World Championships in some style (by looking at the Russian with glee on the last bend as he realized he could easily outsprint him) before kicking past. This made up to some degree for his two fourth places in the Olympics (in the 1500 meters in 1976 and the 5000 meters in 1980). He continued running competitively for quite some time, and in 1994 became the first -- and, as of December 2006, only -- man over age 40 to run a sub-four minute mile.
Coghlan works as director of fundraising and development for Our Lady's Hospital and is a regular panellist on Ireland's television station RTÉ for athletics programs. He has occasionally coached Irish international runners such as Niall Bruton.
