Keith Gough competed in the men’s extra-lightweight (-60kg) judo at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, becoming Ireland’s most successful judoka in terms of fights won at those Games – winning two bouts before being eliminated in the repechage.

A native of Coolock, Dublin, Gough joined the Daigokan Judo Club in Killester as a ten-year-old in 1980, a club noted for its dedication to the technical aspects of the sport.

He became a full-time judoka in 1988 and moved to Kendal in England’s Lake District – the epicentre of British judo and a training centre that attracted world-class players – where he was largely self-coached.

A fractured ankle in early 1992 almost jeopardised his Olympic ambitions, but a bronze medal at the European Championships in Paris in April 1992 secured his selection.

At Barcelona, he won his first bout, won his second, was beaten by eventual bronze medallist Richard Trautmann of Germany, and then lost an unlucky repechage bout against Ewan Beaton that ended his campaign.