Eamonn Coghlan

Eamonn Christopher Coghlan (born 21 November 1952) is an Irish former track and field athlete who specialised in middle distance track events and the 5,000 metres.

In 1971 he was offered a scholarship by Villanova University.

The famous running coach James 'Jumbo' Elliott invited Coghlan to train for the Villanova track and field team.

While there he won four NCAA individual titles over 1500 meters and the mile.

He won 52 of his 70 races at 1,500 m and 1 Mile from 1974 to 1987.

On 10 May 1975 Coghlan ran his first sub-4-minute mile in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (3:56.2).

One week later, on 17 May, he broke the long-standing European Outdoor Mile record of Michel Jazy, in a time of 3:53.3 in Kingston, Jamaica.

He graduated from Villanova University, Pennsylvania, USA in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and Communications.

He and his wife, Yvonne, have four children.

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) his last win being at the age of 34.

He experienced greater success in the 1,500 m at the European Athletics Championships: he won the 1,500 m at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships and outdoors took silver in the event at the 1978 European Athletics Championships.

He set the world record for the indoor mile run with a time of 3.52.6 at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego in 1979.

He lived in Rye, New York for a number of years in the 1980s before returning to live in Ireland.

He was a childhood friend of Brian Kerr, who went on to manage the Ireland national football team.

Coghlan's first running club was the Celtic Athletic Club.

He then joined Donore Harriers.

After the Moscow Olympics in 1980, he moved to Metropolitan Harriers where he was coached by Gerry Farnan.

He won the Leinster colleges cross country championships & the 5000m track title in 1970.

The following year he won the All-Ireland 1500 metres and 5000 metres titles.

He was also the 5,000 m champion at the IAAF World Cup in 1981 and he became the world 5,000 metres champion at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics.

After competitive retirement, he continued to race and became the first man over 40 years old to run a sub-four-minute mile.

He lowered this to 3:50.6 in 1981 and then bettered it to 3:49.78 in 1983 at New Jersey's Meadowlands Arena indoor arena.

By and large, Coghlan was more successful at indoor running notwithstanding a later world title in 1983 over 5,000 meters.

Coghlan also set the record for the indoor 2,000 meter run at 4:54.07 in 1987, which stood until Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia ran 4:52.86 in 1998 (which was broken in 2007 when Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia ran 4:49.99).

His record stood until 1997 when it was broken by Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj in a time of 3:48.45.

It is still the fourth fastest indoor mile of all time and is still, more than 30 years on, a European record.

Coghlan's 1983 time was the fastest mile ever run in the United States until 10 June 2007, when Daniel Kipchirchir Komen ran 3:48.28 outdoors in Eugene, Oregon.

It remains one of only four sub-3:50 miles run on American soil.

He has appeared as a panellist on Irish broadcaster RTÉ and released his autobiography, Chairman of the Boards, Master of the Mile, in 2008.

His youngest son, John, is one of Ireland's leading athletes who won a team gold medal in the European Cross Country Championships in Portugal in 2010.

His eldest son, Eamonn, is a golf professional at Hearthstone Country Club, Houston, Texas.

Coghlan was nicknamed "The Chairman of the Boards" because of his success on indoor tracks.

He is a three-time Olympian, held the world indoor mile record and was world champion in the 5,000 m. Coghlan served as a senator from 2011 to 2016.

Born in Drimnagh, he had a successful amateur running career in Ireland that led to a scholarship in the United States, where he won four NCAA titles in track running and ran a sub-four-minute mile to set an Irish record at 22 years of age.

He soon set the European record over the distance.

His speciality was the indoor mile run – he gained his nickname, "The Chairman of the Boards", as a result of his great success on the US indoor circuit.

He broke the indoor mile world record on three occasions and also set a world indoor record over 2,000 m.

He finished fourth in the 1500 Metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics, fourth again in the 5,000 m at the 1980 Summer Olympics and made the 5,000 m semi-final in his last Olympic appearance at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

In May 2011, Coghlan was appointed as a Senator by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

Coghlan was born in Drimnagh, Dublin, Republic of Ireland, and educated at St. Vincent's C.B.S., Glasnevin.