Sean O’Connor competed in the flyweight wrestling at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, having taken up the sport as an adult hobby and within a year won both Irish and British titles – a remarkable rate of progress that secured his Olympic selection.

A native of Rathmines, Dublin, O’Connor was resident in Windsor at the time of the Games where he operated a French polishing and antique restoration business. As a young and fit man, he had taken up wrestling for recreation and discovered both a natural aptitude and a remarkable strength and speed that made him very difficult to defeat in British and Irish competition.

He competed in his two Olympic bouts in Rome. He went on to compete at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics.