D P Y N

[DoubleRBar]

Happy birthday today (Wednesday) to an Olympic champion who competed in one Olympic Games (not in the hurdles) and died at the age of 83 about eight months before the start of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

This birthday individual won two Olympic medals. One of those two medals came in an event which is no longer contested at the Olympic Games.

Unscramble the four letters found in our title to get a valuable clue which might help you answer this question.

Who is our birthday athlete on this first Wednesday of 2023?

I can tell you that this person did not represent (at the Olympics) the country where this champion was born (and died).

Thank you for not using any research to answer the question in the fourth sentence.

Best of luck to everyone.

[J Rorick]

NYPD

[DoubleRBar]

NYPD is correct, J Rorick. For some of you, this could be a great help in finding the name of our birthday athlete.

[Olli]

The Irish-American hammer thrower? John Flanagan?

[LopenUupunut]

Quite a few of the Irish-Americans were in NYPD; but John Flanagan was older than that.

Pat Ryan?

[DoubleRBar]

Pat Ryan was born in Ireland 142 years ago today. Very well done, LopenUupunut.

Pat Ryan was born about eight years after John Flanagan. Ryan won the Olympic gold medal in the hammer throw at the 1920 Olympic Games. He also won the silver medal in the 56 pound weight throw in Antwerp, Belgium.

Pat Ryan moved to the United States and competed for the United States at the 1920 Olympics. He later returned to Ireland and died there on the day before Valentine's Day of 1964. He was 83 years old when he died.

He was a member of the New York Police Department.

Thank you, LopenUupunut, J Rorick, and Olli.

[cigar95]

During the Triplecast, Dr Zarnowski made a comment during the hammer about how the event was often won by an Irish cop from New York. I've always remembered that even if I can no longer quote it verbatim. (Such a comment, harmless as it is, would probably get him in trouble today.)