Pa Sharkey competed in the men’s heavyweight boxing at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games on the remarkable strength of a career that had taken him from Donegal to Scotland and then to Australia in pursuit of boxing excellence.

A native of Donegal, Sharkey won the Irish junior heavyweight title as a nineteen-year-old and three years later won the Scottish senior heavyweight title, being selected on the Scottish team for the international against England at the Royal Albert Hall in March 1954 where he was narrowly beaten by Brian Harper – the man who later became Brian London, the British professional heavyweight champion.

In April 1954, Sharkey was ranked as the third-best heavyweight boxer in Britain behind Henry Cooper and Brian London. He emigrated to Australia in 1954 and, invited by IABA officials to compete in Melbourne, resigned from his position and moved to Sydney to prepare – defeating the New South Wales heavyweight champion and the Australian champion in preparation bouts.

He was beaten in his Olympic bout by Swedish boxer Törner Åhsman.