Brian Anderson competed in the men’s boxing at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games as a replacement for Jim Neill, who had been forced to withdraw after suffering a broken jaw in May and subsequently requiring an appendectomy.

London-based at the time of his selection, Anderson was part of an Irish boxing team that benefited from a more structured collective training programme than previous Olympic campaigns.

The team trained under coach Harry Enright at the Albert Foundry Club in Paisley Park and at the De La Salle Boys’ Home in Belfast, with stamina-building runs from the school along the Turf Loney roadway to the summit of the Black Mountain.