John Joseph Flanagan (center, wearing pea-coat and shorts). Date and location unknown. Flanagan, a native of County Limerick, Ireland, was known as "a modern day Hercules," and is considered the father of modern day hammer throwing. In 1895, he set the world record in the hammer throw and in 1896 he won the British Amateur Athletic Association hammer throw title. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1896, and over the course of next fifteen years he set sixteen world records.

In addition to winning one silver and three gold medals in the Olympic Games in 1900, 1904 and 1908, Flanagan won seven Amateur Athletic Union titles in the hammer throw and six with the 56lb weight. He returned to Ireland in 1911, the same year he had his final international hammer throw victory in a match against Scotland. In his retirement, Flanagan coached Dr. Patrick O'Callaghan, who won the gold medal in the hammer throw at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, marking the first time the Irish tri-color flag was hoisted at the Olympic Games.