Liam Carroll competed in the men’s half-middleweight (-70kg) judo at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games as one of Ireland’s five pioneering judoka, losing his opening bout to Patrick Vial of France.

From Drimnagh, Dublin, and working as a butcher in Dolphin’s Barn at the time of his selection, Carroll had been introduced to judo at Charlie Hegarty’s club after attending a Beamish-sponsored exhibition in Mountjoy Square in the early 1960s, before transferring to the Dublin Judo Club in Parkgate Street.

His journey to Munich required a special letter from Patrick Carroll to his employer explaining the importance of the Olympic Games before he was ‘reluctantly released for three weeks from his duties.’

He drove five colleagues to the 1967 European Championships in Rome in a Volkswagen Beetle, with sleeping tent and fighting gear on the roof rack – a seven-person sardine experience that captured the spirit of that pioneering judo generation.

He had also competed at the World Championships in Ludwigshafen in 1971 in the lead-up to Munich, and went on to represent Ireland at the European Championships in London in 1974.

After Munich he ran the Dublin Judo Club on Parkgate Street throughout the 1970s and 1980s, making a significant contribution to the development of the sport in Ireland. He passed away in 2024.