BOXING:Irish fighters have given us some of our greatest Olympic moments. Johnny Wattersonlooks back fondly
NINE BOXING medals in previous Olympic Games and now at least two more bronze from the ring should really come as no surprise. Boxing maybe a sport that some have looked down on over the years, but its athletes have always been the blue bloods of Irish Olympic teams and since the foundation of the State, it has been the most consistent supply line for gold, silver and bronze.
Ireland have now won 23 medals of various kinds since Paris in 1924 and including those of Paddy Barnes and Ken Egan almost half of those have been from boxing. Four of the 23 were acquired by Michelle de Bruin in Atlanta 1996 and one was given back by Cian O'Connor after Athens 2004 when his horse was found to have illegal drugs in his system. Even including the tainted three gold medals and one bronze medal from the pool, almost half of the total from the ring represents a staggering return from one sport.
The first medals a young Irish team picked up in the ring were in Melbourne in 1956, the most successful Games for an Irish team apart from astonishing Atlanta. Ronnie Delany won the 1,500 metres gold, but in the ring the impeccable Fred Tiedt won silver in the welterweight division, John Caldwell bronze in flyweight, Freddie Gilroy bronze in bantamweight and Tony Byrne, the captain of the team, lightweight bronze. As it transpired that was no one-off but the beginning of a run that has clearly not yet come to an end.
In 1952 the Games went to Helsinki and there a young stylist from Belfast named John McNally went all the way to the final. In a split decision the gold went to the local boy, McNally returning with a silver, Ireland's only medal of the Games.
Twelve years later Jim McCourt arrived in Tokyo from a row of redbricked terraced houses in Leeson Street, just off west Belfast's Falls Road. The teenager went to the semi-final before being stopped by Gerd Puzicha from Germany, but came home with the bronze medal.
Belfast was to feature yet again in 1984 when Hugh Russell, a flyweight from the Holy Family club, met Bulgarian Peter Lessov for a semi-final appointment in the Moscow Games. Standing just over 5ft 3ins, the little man, who was also from the Falls Road, ran out of juice and lost on a unanimous decision to the eventual gold medal winner but again took home the bronze.
It wasn't until 1992 that Ireland again featured, this time at an even higher level. Dublin's Michael Carruth and the Shankhill Road's Wayne McCullough adorned screens for almost two weeks with both fighters making it to the finals.
They were an unlikely pair, but McCullough was first up against the talented Cuban Joel Casamayor in the bantamweight division. Casamayor was a one-time featherweight who had dropped down a weight, but, like all of the Cubans, was immaculately prepared. In the bout Casamayor took an unassailable lead, finally winning 14-8, McCullough having fought from the second round with his cheekbone cracked in three places. Still, silver for Ireland.
Carruth's famous gold in the welterweight division came at the expense of another Cuban, Juan Hernandez. After the first round the Irishman was 4-3 ahead, but by the end of the second Hernandez had levelled 8-8. Those were the days of three rounds and as Carruth mauled and punched and did everything required, the final round finished 13-10 to secure Ireland's first gold medal since Delany's 1956 win, Ireland's ninth.
