Hugh Russell won a bronze medal in the flyweight division at the 1980 Moscow Olympics – Ireland’s first Olympic medal in 16 years since Jim McCourt’s boxing bronze in Tokyo in 1964.

He defeated opponents from Iraq, Tanzania and North Korea before losing to Bulgaria’s Petar Lessov in the semi-finals.

Known as “Little Red” for his red hair and compact 5ft 4in frame, Russell grew up in the New Lodge area of north Belfast and began boxing as a teenager at Holy Family Golden Gloves. He had previously won a flyweight bronze for Northern Ireland at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. After returning from Moscow with a pocketful of roubles he could not take out of the Soviet Union, he used them to buy a Zenith camera – the beginning of a second distinguished career.

He turned professional in 1981, won the British bantamweight title in 1983 and the British flyweight title in 1984, becoming the first boxer to win British titles at both weights in that order and winning the Lonsdale Belt outright in 1985.

After retiring from boxing he joined The Irish News in Belfast in 1983 as a trainee photographer and spent 40 years there, becoming one of Ireland’s most celebrated photojournalists. His best-known photograph was of Gerry Conlon punching the air outside the Old Bailey in London in 1989 upon his release following the overturning of his wrongful conviction for the Guildford bombings. He was inducted into the Belfast City Council Sporting Hall of Fame in 2019. He passed away on 13 October 2023 after a short illness, aged 63.