Kyle was born in
Urlingford, County Kilkenny, and raised at no. 13 John Street,
Kilkenny. She played
handball, to which she attributed her excellent hand-eye coordination, and touch rugby. She attended
Kilkenny College, where her father C.G. Shankey was headmaster. She later went to
Alexandra College aged 10 and then
Trinity College Dublin, where she read
Medicine before changing to
Natural Sciences. By now a mother, her selection caused uproar in the conservative Irish society of the time and she was also obliged to pay up to £200 towards the cost of representing Ireland. At the
1960 Olympic Games in Rome, she competed in both the
100 and
200 metre events. Kyle recalled sitting down with
Muhammad Ali, then aged 19, whom she felt "had greatness ahead of him". In the following year she won the
British WAAA 440 yards event at the
1961 WAAA Championships and was a medallist in the next three years. In 1961 she also set a British all-comers quarter-mile record of 56.2 seconds at the
Highland Games. At the
1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, she reached the semi-finals of both the
400m and
800m. She won four gold medals in the W45 category at the
1977 World Masters Championship in
Gothenburg in the
100m,
400m,
high jump and
long jump. She held
World Masters records in the W40 category for the 100m (12.00 secs) and 400m (55.30 secs), in the W45 category for the 100m (12.50 secs) and in the W50 category for the long jump at 5.04m. Kyle attended her fourth Olympics in
Sydney in 2000 as coach to the Irish track and field team. Kyle died on 23 July 2025 in a nursing home, at the age of 96.
Mary Peters spoke warmly of Kyle: "I have known Maeve for 70 years and she was a pioneer of women's sport in both athletics and hockey for Ireland. She encouraged a lot of young people like me to get involved in sport. Now having made it to her 96th year may she rest in peace". ==Honours==