Jim Hogan (athlete)
Irish distance runner (1933–2015)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Joseph Hogan (né Cregan; 28 May 1933 – 10 January 2015) was an Irish distance runner who competed for both Ireland and Great Britain.[1] He was born in Croom, County Limerick, Ireland.[2] Hogan's athletic career saw him compete for Ireland at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and for Great Britain at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.[3] He was also the only Irish athlete to win the European marathon title.[4]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Irish | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 28 May 1933 Croom, Limerick, Ireland | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 10 January 2015 (aged 81) Limerick, Ireland | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 69 kg (152 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||
Event | long distance | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Walton AC | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Biography
Hogan was born as Jim Cregan in [Athlacca, County Limerick], Ireland in May 1933.[5] In his youth, he had some success in cross-country running in Ireland.[1] However, he initially retired from the sport at the age of 26, and moved to England in 1960.[1] Once in England, he took up running again, and changed his surname by deed poll from Cregan to Hogan, with the goal of competing in running events in England.[1] While running in England, his performances were noticed by selectors for the Irish Olympic team, who picked him to compete at the 1964 Summer Olympics.[1]
Hogan competed at two Olympic Games.[4] At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Hogan represented Ireland in the men's 10,000 metres and the men's marathon,[6] but did not finish either race.[7][8] Despite not finishing in the marathon, Hogan kept pace with the eventual winner, Abebe Bikila, until he was forced to withdraw from the race due to dehydration.[9]
Hogan felt both disillusioned and discriminated against for being an Irish athlete living in England, so he switched to compete for Great Britain.[1] He won the marathon title at the 1966 European Championships.[2] Two years later, at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Hogan represented Great Britain in the men's 10,000 metres, where he finished in 26th place.[10]
After setting multiple World and European distance records in athletics,[1][11] he returned to live in County Limerick to train horses.[12] He died there in January 2015, at the age of 81.[13] A biography of his life, titled "The Irishman who ran for England" was published before he died.[14]
