Liam Ball competed in the men’s 100 metres and 200 metres breaststroke at two consecutive Olympic Games – the 1968 Mexico City Games and the 1972 Munich Games – and remains one of the most celebrated sporting figures to emerge from Derry, where a mural on Creggan’s Central Drive and the annual Liam Ball International Triathlon at Templemore Sports Complex honour his memory.

A past pupil of St Columb’s College in Derry, Ball had first represented Northern Ireland at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, before going on to compete for Ireland at the Olympic level.

At Munich in 1972 he finished =25th in the 100 metres breaststroke and =26th in the 200 metres breaststroke. His results at Mexico 1968 need Olympedia verification. He passed away on 16 June 1984 in Castlebar, County Mayo, aged 33, after a long illness.