With 15 days to go until the first bell at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, we continue our celebration of the Irish Olympic Boxing centenary, looking back at Tokyo 1964.
Belfast’s Jim McCourt followed in the footsteps of the boxer he believed was the greatest to come out of Ireland. McCourt, of the Immaculata BC, claimed bronze at the Tokyo Olympics eight years after the athlete he described as an inspiration, Johnny Caldwell, also of the Immaculata BC, won bronze at the 1956 Melbourne Games.
The Ulster southpaw, a bronze medal winner for Ireland at the 1965 European Championships in Berlin and a gold medal winner for Northern Ireland at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica, wore the Irish lightweight vest with distinctionat the 1964 Games at the Korakuen Ice Palace in Tokyo.
A hat-trick of victories over Bun-am Sug of Korea, Ghulam Sarwar of Pakistan and Domingo Barrera of Spain saw McCourt reach the last-four, thus guaranteeing a 6th medal for Ireland from four Olympics since 1952.
Vellikton Barannikov of the USSR awaited in the semi-final, but McCourt, who had won all of his bouts 4-1 up to the semi-finals, was shaded on a split decision. Barannikov, who also edged out McCourt in the 1965 European semi-finals in Berlin, went on the reach the final, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Polish legend Jozef Grudzien, who also won silver at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
One year later, McCourt was given the opportunity to exact a measure of retribution at the National Stadium in Dublin when Ireland hosted Poland.
McCourt was slated to meet Grudzien, who was to find out that while Olympic champions are accorded the utmost respect at the home of Irish boxing they can expect no quarter at the South Circular Road venue.
McCourt recalled: “The place was heaving that night in expectation of the fight with Grudzien. I felt I had something to prove from Tokyo. I fought a great fight and I had him all over the ring, but the roars of the crowd spurred me on and I felt so happy when I got the decision.”
St John Bosco ace Sean McCafferty, who at 19 was the youngest member of the Irish 1964 squad, won his first bout against Sulley Shittu of Ghana in Toyko, but then lost to eventual Olympic champion, Fernando Atzori of Italy in the quarter-finals.
Smokin’ Joe Frazier, who was only selected after Buster Mathis withdrew injured, claimed a solitary gold for the USA after blasting his way into the finals where he decisioned Germany’s Hans Huber.
The host nation celebrated after Takao Sakurai won their first Olympic gold medal in boxing at bantamweight.
But boxing at 18th Olympiad was marred by protests at poor decisions, with two fighters, Spain’s Valentin Loren and Argentina’s José Roberto Chirino receiving lifetime bands for striking referees and Korea’s Jo Dong-Gi protesting his defeat with a sit down protest – in the middle of the ring – which lasted almost an hour.
The USSR topped the medals table. Ireland finished in joint 10th position in the medals table with Bulgaria, Finland, Ghana, Mexico, Nigeria, Tunisia and Uruguay in Toyko.
Tokyo would prove fertile ground for Team Ireland boxing – almost 60 years later, it was the site of Kellie Harrington’s gold and Aidan Walsh’s bronze
Flyweight: Sean McCafferty (St John Bosco)
Beat Sulley Shittu (Ghana) 3-2
Lost to eventual gold medallist Fernando Atzori (Italy) 0-5
Bantamweight: Chris Rafter (North City)
Lost to Abel Cesar Almaraz (Argentina) 0-5
Featherweight: Paddy Fitzsimons (St Matthew’s)
Lost to Piotr Gurman (Poland) 0-5
Lightweight: Jim McCourt (Immaculata) – Bronze
Beat Bun-am Suh (Korea) 4-1
Beat Ghulam Sarwar (Pakistan) 4-1
Beat Domingo Barrera (Spain) 4-1
Lost to Vellikton Barannikov (USSR) 2-3
Light-welterweight: Brian Anderson (Middle Row)
Lost to Touch Nol (Cambodia) 0-5
Check out the Games highlights here:
The 1964 Tokyo Games were the first to be held in Asia. The carrier of the flame, Yoshinori Sakai, was chosen because he was born on 6 August 1945, the day the atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima, in homage to the victims and as a call for world peace.
Ninety-three nations were represented at the 1964 Games. Sixteen nations made their first Olympic appearance in Tokyo: Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire (as Ivory Coast), Dominican Republic, Libya (withdrawing), Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Northern Rhodesia, Senegal, and Tanzania.
Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia became the first athlete to win the marathon twice, whilst Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina brought her career medal total to an incredible 18. It also proved the fourth time lucky for Greco-Roman wrestler Imre Polyak, who finally won gold after finishing second in the same division at the previous three Olympic Games.