George Cornelius "Con" O'Kelly (29 October 1886 – 3 November 1947) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

sport wrestler Amateur wrestling is a variant of wrestling practiced in collegiate, school, or other amateur level competitions. There are two international wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games: freestyle and Greco-Roman. Both styles are under the ...

who competed for

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in the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were ori ...

, where he won a gold medal.

Career

O'Kelly was born in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, on 29 October 1886. After he left school, he moved to Hull in

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and lodged with Mr and Mrs Larvin in their home at 9 Blanket Row. On 18 September 1902, he joined the Kingston upon Hull City Police and was seconded to the local fire brigade. He was introduced to wrestling by his colleagues and entered a variety of local competitions. He volunteered to fight the Northern Counties champion, whom he promptly defeated in around three minutes. He was entered by his local wrestling club into the British Amateur Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, which he won. In March 1908 a wall collapsed on him while he was fighting a fire at a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

. He recovered from damage to his back and shoulder in time for the

in London, where he defeated Lee Talbott, Harry Foskett and Edward Barrett in order to reach the Olympic final where he beat

Jacob Gundersen Jacob Gundersen (29 October 1875 – 21 January 1968) was a Norwegian-American who represented Norway in the 1908 Olympics. He was a freestyle wrestler and Olympic medalist. Gundersen was born in Fjære (later incorporated into Gri ...

for the gold medal. He was presented with his medal by

Queen Alexandra Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of King ...

, who also gave him a green oak leaf badge. A crowd of over 12,000 greeted him on his return to Hull. He was carried to a decorated horse-drawn fire engine, which paraded the medalist around the city. He continued to wrestle after his Olympic victory, and even fought in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. ''

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'' reported that his fight against Pat Connolly on 22 November 1909 turned into a fist fight after Connolly gouged O'Kelly's eyes and the two started trading blows, resulting in a double disqualification after 29 minutes of the bout. The ''New York Times'' referred to it as "the worst wrestling bout that has ever been held in this city".

Personal life

He married the daughter of his landlord in Hull, Sabina Larvin. His son, George Cornelius "Con" O'Kelly Jr., appeared for the British team as a boxer in the heavyweight category at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

in Paris, France.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Okelly, Con 1886 births 1947 deaths Sportspeople from County Cork Irish male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers of Great Britain Wrestlers at the 1908 Summer Olympics British male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics