Brian Magee competed in the men’s middleweight boxing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to Mohammed Bahari of Algeria – who went on to win bronze.

From Lisburn, Co. Antrim, and coached by Olympic team manager-coach Michael Hawkins at Holy Trinity Boxing Club in Belfast, Magee was regarded alongside Damaen Kelly as one of Ireland’s two potential medallists in Atlanta. He survived a first-round knockdown in his opening contest against Randall Thompson of Canada – the oldest boxer in the entire competition – before winning a counter-punching battle to advance. He then outpointed Bertrand Tetsia of Cameroon to move within one win of a guaranteed bronze medal.

In his quarter-final, however, the southpaw was outmanoeuvred by Bahari, a fellow counter-punching specialist. Magee subsequently won a bronze medal at the 1998 European Championships in Minsk and won the Commonwealth Games bronze for Northern Ireland before turning professional in March 1999. He won the IBO world super middleweight title and defended it eight times, also winning the British and European super middleweight titles. He challenged for the WBC world title against Mikkel Kessler in 2010.