Ireland's Forgotten Hero Who Was Born In Ceylon
Born on this day in 1907 in Nuwara Eliya, Robert Tisdall left Ceylon long before he won the Gold medal for Ireland in the Men's 400m Hurdles at the 1932 Olympic Games
Did you know that in the history of the Olympics, there is a 400m Hurdler who was born in Ceylon and won a Gold medal as well? Before Duncan White's Silver in 1948, Robert Morton Newburgh Tisdall, better known as Bob Tisdall, achieved this and was Ireland's first Track athlete to win an Olympic Gold!
Born on a day like this in 1907 in the heart of Nuwara Eliya to William Tisdall (a Tea Planter at the Iddagode and Vogan Estates as per History of Ceylon Tea and former Irish Sprint Championship runner) and Meta Morton who was also an Irish Hockey player, Bob was later sent to Ireland to live with his maternal aunt in Nenagh after a cobra attack in his father's plantation when he was 5 years old.
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