Martin Brereton competed in the men’s light-welterweight boxing at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, losing his opening bout to Cuba’s Jose Aguilar who stopped him in the first round.

From Edenderry, Co. Offaly, Brereton was part of an eight-man Irish boxing team that competed in Moscow from a strong base of preparation, including a collective training programme that had been central to selection – Terry Christle had been excluded from the squad specifically for refusing to participate in it. The Cuban opposition he faced was among the most formidable in amateur boxing.