28 Facts About Eamonn Coghlan

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

Eamonn Coghlan soon set the European record over the distance.

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

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

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

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

On 10 May 1975 Eamonn Coghlan ran his first sub-4-minute mile in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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

Eamonn Coghlan's eldest son, Eamonn, is a golf professional at Hearthstone Country Club, Houston, Texas.

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

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

Eamonn Coghlan 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.

Eamonn Coghlan 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.

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

Eamonn Coghlan 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.

Eamonn Coghlan won the world-famous Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in NYC's Madison Square Garden a record seven times his last win being at the age of 34.

Eamonn Coghlan's record stood for over twenty years with Bernard Lagat winning for an eighth time in 2010: Coghlan fired the starting pistol to the record-breaking race and presented Lagat with a trophy.

Eamonn Coghlan won the 5,000 metres at the 1983 World Championships to follow two fourth places in the Olympics.

Eamonn Coghlan ran the last 1,000 metres very fast, in 2:24.77, and won the race by 1.67 seconds, despite clearly slowing down in the final metres.

Eamonn Coghlan won silver at the 1978 European Championships in Prague over 1500m, in 3:36.57, behind Steve Ovett of Great Britain, and in 1979, he competed in his only European Indoor Championships, taking the gold medal in the 1500 m in Vienna.

In 1981, Eamonn Coghlan won the gold medal at 5000m in the IAAF World Cup, competing for Europe.

Eamonn Coghlan missed out on the 1982 European Championships and the 1984 Olympic Games due to injury.

Eamonn Coghlan was eliminated in the 5000-metre semi-finals at the 1988 Seoul Olympics In 1985, he was a member of Ireland's four-man squad along with Marcus O'Sullivan, Frank O'Mara and Ray Flynn, which set a world record time of 15:49.08 in the 4 x mile relay, in a charity fund-raising race in Dublin.

In total, Eamonn Coghlan ran 83 sub-4-minute miles, indoor and out.

In 1994, on the Harvard University indoor track, Eamonn Coghlan became the first man over age 40 to run a sub-four-minute mile.

Eamonn Coghlan ran the sub-four-minute mile as a "Special Attraction" during the middle of the Massachusetts State High School Championship meet.

Eamonn Coghlan sat as an independent until 7 February 2012, when he joined the Fine Gael party.

Eamonn Coghlan ran as the Fine Gael candidate in the 2014 Dublin West by-election.