So what's the story with Hitler spying on Irish Olympic athletes?

We all know Adolf Hitler was evil, but sending teams to secretly record the training practices of Ireland's 1930s hammer throw event Olympians? That's downright dastardly.

What's that Hitler chap done now?

Well, if you believe Brian Walsh, curator of the county museum in Dundalk, Co. Louth, the former German dictator ordered camera crews to spy on Irish athletes prior to the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin.

Why would he want to do that?

Apparently, Irish hammer throwers were bloody brilliant in the 1930s. According to Mr Walsh: "It appears Hitler wanted to know why the Irish were so good, so he arranged to have the athletes filmed so that their training regimes could be analysed."

That sounds bizarre - how come we're only hearing about it now?

Again, we'll refer back to Mr Walsh, who stated that he had only heard of the film after speaking to some of the Irish Olympians' families. In particular, Maurice Coyle, son of Olympian Dan Coyle, said that his father told him that German film crews would turn up for their training sessions.

Not really the best at 'spying' then, were they?

Evidently not. Mr Coyle also said that his father's coach, Dr Pat O'Callaghan - winner of Ireland's first gold medal in 1928 and a winner again in 1932 - was brought to Hamburg and X-rayed by the Germans. The Louth curator Mr Brian Walsh has further stated that he believes the pre-1936 film could have been produced by Hitler's propaganda filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.

So how did we actually get on in the 1936 games?

We came away empty-handed. That's because we didn't actually compete, after the National Cycling and Athletic Association refused to comply with joining the International Amateur Athletics Federation. We're sure you remember that whole chestnut. We did, however, bid to host the Olympics for the same year, crazy as that sounds.

Sadly, we didn't actually win another gold medal after 1932 until 24 years later, with Ronnie Delaney winning the Men's 1500 metres. It was then a further 44 years until we got even more delicious gold in the form of Michael Carruth's welterweight boxing triumph in Barcelona.

So who won the hammer throw event in the end?



Karl Hein of Germany, with Erwin Blask of Germany taking silver. Hmm... I wonder where they received their tips?

Those should've been our gold and silver medals! So where can I watch the Nazi-recorded footage of Ireland's brightest athletes?

Yeah... we have a problem there. Curator Brian Walsh has no idea, stating: "If anyone could help us with this, it would be fantastic to include in an exhibition we're having."

Why would anyone still be hanging onto 75-years-old hammer throw practice footage?

Good point. Either way, the exhibition opens in June and Mr Walsh is hoping that anyone with information on the footage gets in touch via olympics@dundalkmuseum.ie.

We're sure he has plenty of other fantastic memorabilia ready for the big event this summer and that in no way did he make this story up to drum up publicity. It's a great story anywho, so we hope it has a happy ending, especially if there any are fugitive Nazis out there that are feeling generous.