Frank Rothwell competed in the men’s middle-heavyweight (90kg) weightlifting at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, becoming the only Irish weightlifter at those Games and the last Irish Olympic weightlifter to date.

His three press attempts were disallowed by the judges under the Russian-style press technique he used, which was ruled to have a break in the continuity of the lift – and notably, the press was removed from the compulsory lifts entirely after 1972, a recognition of the controversy the judging caused at those Games.

Born in Glenconnor, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, Rothwell emigrated to London in March 1956 at nineteen, winning his first competition – designed to find London’s strongest Irishman, promoted by the legendary strongman and publican Butty Sugrue.

He was inspired by Ben Helfgott, a two-time British Olympic weightlifter and Holocaust survivor who had escaped the Treblinka concentration camps, at the Gifford Weightlifting Club.

He later moved to Hebden Bridge in west Yorkshire where over eighty per cent of his training was conducted in his kitchen, while working as a labourer in a machine tool engineering factory.

He won eight Irish national championships, self-financed his trips to Ireland to compete, and was largely self-coached.

A revolutionary period of training under British champion Louis Martin – lifting at 90-95 per cent of maximum and increasing weekly tonnage to 180 tons – transformed his capabilities.

Hugh O’Callaghan, son of the legendary double Olympic hammer champion and himself from Clonmel, was appointed his Munich coach.

On 24 June 2012, Rothwell carried the Olympic Torch through Halifax – nominated by the Halifax and District Irish Society in recognition of his community work and his status as an Olympian.