Kieran Foley competed in the men’s lightweight (71kg) judo at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Finishing 7th overall of 30 competitors in a creditable performance that included wins over a Salvadoran opponent and a hard-fought contest with the Japanese world champion before elimination.

A second Dan black belt, Foley was the only Irish judoka to meet the OCI’s qualifying standards for LA – which required winning a medal at a major European competition. His bronze medal at the 1983 Dutch Open fulfilled the requirement.

The lightweight class at LA was minimally affected by the Soviet-led boycott. Foley was drawn in a tough pool that included Japanese world champion Hidetoshi Nakanishi and a Korean judoka, and was beaten by Korea’s Ahn Byeong-keun – the eventual gold medallist – in his first bout.

This qualified him for the repechage. He beat Juan Vargas of El Salvador in seven seconds in his opening repechage bout, then faced Nakanishi in a tremendous fight that went the full distance. Foley actually threw the Japanese champion but the move was disallowed by the referee.

Nakanishi, who collected two broken ribs during the bout, was easily beaten in the bronze medal contest by Britain’s Kerrith Brown. Foley’s 7th place overall was Ireland’s most successful Olympic judo result to that point.