Paul Fitzgerald competed in the men’s featherweight boxing at two Olympic Games – the 1984 Los Angeles Games and the 1988 Seoul Games.

From Arklow, Co. Wicklow, Fitzgerald was a five-time national senior champion and a superb defensive boxer who had been based in the United States since 1984.

At Los Angeles he won his opening two bouts before losing a split decision to Uganda’s Charles Lubulwa.

At Seoul, pre-Games previews noted that he possessed the qualities that appealed to Olympic judges – ‘controlled aggression, deft footwork, good defence and an attractive style’ – and he duly beat a Dominican Republic boxer in his opening bout.

His second contest, however, was a damaging loss to British boxer David Anderson.

The Irish boxing team at LA benefited from their first properly organised pre-Olympic training camp at Lake Placid, New York, where headgear – introduced to Olympic boxing for the first time in Los Angeles – was used for the first time, giving the Irish team a crucial advantage over boxers encountering it for the first time in competition.