Christy McLoughlin competed in the men’s welterweight boxing at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, losing a unanimous decision to Britain’s Colin Jones in what was one of the most controversial judging decisions involving an Irish boxer in Olympic history – a bout in which all five jury members marking the contest as an academic exercise gave the verdict to McLoughlin, while the judges returned a unanimous decision in Jones’s favour. McLoughlin, an extremely fit young boxer whose training regime included regular runs on the Portmarnock strand, described the bout as sparkling: ‘both boxers were willing to attack.’ He accepted that the result could have gone either way, and though the Games were ‘a great experience’, he found ‘the whole experience overwhelming.’

He never laced a glove again after Montreal, his retirement completely unrelated to the controversial decision. He came from Bunratty Road, Coolock, in Dublin – the same street as Irish marathon runner Jim McNamara, who was also on the Montreal team