Sgyrsiau Hanes Chwaraeon Gwynedd Meilyr Emrys sports lectures #3

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This lecture will be conducted through the medium of Welsh

’Roedd tîm Olympaidd Prydain ar gyfer Paris 2024 yn cynnwys mwy o aelodau Cymreig nag erioed o’r blaen ac enillodd athletwyr ‘Gwlad y Gân’ fwy o fedalau eleni nag mewn unrhyw Olympiad blaenorol. Ond nid yr haf hwn oedd y tro cyntaf i’r mabolgampau rhyngwladol pedeirblynyddol enwog ymweld â Pharis. Yn wir, ’roedd prifddinas Ffrainc eisoes wedi llwyfannu’r Gemau Olympaidd ddwywaith yn flaenorol – ym 1900 a 1924 – ac ’roedd rhai Cymry ymysg y cystadleuwyr ar yr achlysuron hynny hefyd. Ond pwy yn union oedd yr unigolion hynny a pha mor llwyddiannus oedden nhw?

Ynghyd â thrafod hanes coll yr un mabolgampwr Cymreig oedd yn dyst i anhrefn gemau 1900, bydd y sgwrs hon hefyd yn edrych ar hynt a helyntion y naw Cymro fuodd yn ymryson am fedalau pan ddychwelodd y carnifal chwaraeon teithiol mawr i lannau’r afon Seine, ychydig o dan chwarter canrif yn ddiweddarach. Ochr yn ochr â’r criw dethol hynny o Gymry ‘swyddogol’, ’roedd tîm Prydain ar gyfer Gemau Olympaidd 1924 hefyd yn cynnwys dau athletwr blaenllaw arall o dras Gymreig ac wrth i’w straeon rhyfeddol hwythau gael eu hadrodd, bydd y cysylltiad lled-ddirgel rhwng Cymru â’r ffilm, ‘Chariots of Fire’, yn cael ei ddatgelu.

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The British Olympic team for Paris 2024 included more Welsh members than ever before and those ‘Land of Song’ athletes won more medals this year than in any previous Olympiad. But the 33rd edition of the summer games wasn’t the first to be held in Paris. Indeed, the famous international sports carnival had already visited the French capital twice before – in 1900 and 1924 – and there were a few Welsh competitors present on those occasions too. But who exactly were those individuals and how successful were they?

Along with recounting the lost history of the solitary Welsh gymnast who witnessed the chaos of the 1900 Olympics, this talk will also look at the trials and tribulations of the nine Welshmen who competed for medals when the games returned to the banks of the river Seine, just under a quarter of a century later. Beside that select group of ‘official’ Welsh representatives, the British team for the 1924 Olympic Games also included two other leading athletes of Welsh descent and as their extraordinary stories will be told, the relatively unknown connection between Wales and the film, Chariots of Fire, will also be revealed.

Host or Publisher Megan