BOXING

Boxing has featured at all modern Olympic Games since St Louis 1904 and is Team Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport with 16 medallists.

Michael Carruth won Gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and exactly 20 years to the week later, Katie Taylor won Gold at the London 2012 Olympics. She was the first Irish woman to qualify and compete in an Olympic boxing event.

At Paris 2024, there will be 6 women and 4 men competing in their respective weight classes,

Fly  (50kg)

Bantamweight (54kg)

Featherweight (57kg)

Light (60kg)

Welter (66kg)

Middle (75kg)

With men having a total of 8 events

Fly (48kg – 52kg)

Feather (52kg to 57kg)

Light (57kg to 63kg)

Welter (63kg to 69kg)

Middle (69kg to 75kg)

Light Heavy (75kg to 81kg)

Heavy (81kg to 91kg)

Super Heavy (91kg to +91kg)

At the Olympic Games boxers shall be seeded by a Seeding Commission, based on Boxers’ World Rankings and past performance.

An Olympic Boxing match for both men and women lasts three rounds, each of three minutes.The winners of the semi-finals in each weight category will contest for the gold medal, the losers of each semi-final will be awarded bronze medals.

Five judges sit at the side of the ring. They watch the bout and individually award points for what they deem quality blows on target, but also technique, tactics, competiveness and dominance. Fights can end by way of knockout or technical knockout as well.  Referees may end a bout if they deem an opponent unfit to continue.

An Olympic Boxing match for both men and women lasts three rounds, each of three minutes.  Five judges sit at the side of the ring. They watch the bout and individually award points for what they deem to be a successful hit.

The National Governing body for Boxing in Ireland is the IABA – Irish Athletic Boxing Association where you can find more information

Name Weight Year Olympics Medal
John McNally Bantamweight 1952 Helsinki Silver
Fred Tiedt Welterweight 1956 Melbourne Silver
Tony Byrne Lightweight 1956 Melbourne Bronze
Fred Gilroy Bantamweight 1956 Melbourne Bronze
John Caldwell Flyweight 1956 Melbourne Bronze
Jim McCourt Lightweight 1964 Tokyo Bronze
Hugh Russell Flyweight 1980 Moscow Bronze
Michael Carruth Welterweight 1992 Barcelona Gold
Wayne McCullough Bantamweight 1992 Barcelona Silver
Kenneth Egan Light heavyweight 2008 Beijing Silver.
Darren Sutherland Middleweight 2008 Beijing Bronze.
Paddy Barnes Light flyweight 2008 Beijing Bronze.
John Joe Nevin Bantamweight 2012 London Silver
Katie Taylor Lightweight 2012 London Gold
Michael Conlan Flyweight 2012 London Bronze
Paddy Barnes Light flyweight 2012 London Bronze
Kellie Harrington Lightweight 2020 Tokyo Gold
Aidan Walsh Welterweight 2020 Tokyo Bronze

National Federation: Irish Athletic Boxing Association

BOXING NEWS

2024 OLYMPIC GAMES – DAY6 EVENING REPORT FROM TEAM IRELAND

Twenty-one-year-old Sallynoggin heavyweight (92kg) Jack Marley, who made such an impressive Olympic debut last Sunday was beaten tonight by Davlat Boltaev of Tajikistan in the 92kg quarter-finals; 4-1. Earlier talented Bray flyweight Daina Moorehouse was bitterly disappointed to be on the wrong side of a 4-1 decision in favour of hometown fighter Wassila Lkhadiri of [...]

2024 OLYMPIC GAMES – DAY 3 AFTERNOON REPORT FROM TEAM IRELAND

In Canoe Slalom double Olympian Liam Jegou put in an incredible run in the semi-final of the Men’s C1 to reach his first Olympic final an hour later where he placed an amazing seventh overall. Defending lightweight champion Kellie Harrington impressively defeated Italian Alessia Mesiano in the last 16 to advance to the quarter-finals on Wednesday evening (31st July). Her [...]

EVENING REPORT ON DAY 2 FOR TEAM IRELAND

It was good news all round for Team Ireland on the second evening of these Olympic Games. In front of a capacity crowd at the La Defense tonight Sligo swimmer Mona McSharry set a new Irish record of 1:05.51 in the semi-final of the women’s 100m breaststroke as she qualified in style for tomorrow night’s final [...]

AFTERNOON REPORT ON DAY TWO FROM TEAM IRELAND

On the water in Marseilles Sailors Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove impressed to win the third of their 12 qualifying races in the Skiff this afternoon, having earlier placed  fourth in the second race. In boxing Offaly welterweight (66kg) Grainne Walsh was beaten by Hungarian opponent Anna Luca Hamori in the preliminaries this afternoon 4-1.The first ever Irish Women’s Rugby Sevens team at an [...]

SELECTED ATHLETES

Jennifer Lehane

BIOGRAPHY Jenny initially starred in Taekwondo, winning two European senior titles and medals at World Junior and Seniors before concentrating on boxing while studying in DCU. A National Elite title in 2021 put her firmly on the IABA High Performance radar and, just two years ago, she put her primary teaching job on hold to [...]

Gráinne Walsh

BIOGRAPHY Grainne played soccer for Shamrock Rovers and the Irish U17s before concentrating on boxing, initially with local club Spartacus. She was a World and European quarter-finalist in 2016 and a bronze medallist at the 2019 European Games but a thumb injury, which eventually needed surgery, derailed her Tokyo Olympic dream and then a dumbbell [...]

Daina Moorehouse

BIOGRAPHY A 4’ 11” pocket-rocket who famously used to rise daily at 6am to train before school, Daina won gold and ‘Best Boxer’ at the European Juniors in 2017 when she was just 15. In 2018 she beat a Russian to clinch the European Youth title and made the quarter-finals of World Youths. In 2019 [...]

Jack Marley

BIOGRAPHY Jack started boxing aged eight and won his first All-Ireland title at eleven. In 2021, aged 18, he became the second youngest national heavyweight champion in Irish amateur history. He won a bronze medal at the European U22 Championships in 2021, and turned that to gold in 2022. Last year he clinched Olympic qualification [...]

Jude Gallagher

BIOGRAPHY Jude qualified for his first Olympic Games in March by winning four rounds of the first Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Italy where he had to reach the top four. A bronze medallist at World and European Youth Championships in 2018, he won Commonwealth gold in Birmingham in 2022, beating Joseph Commey in the final [...]

Dean Clancy

BIOGRAPHY Dean qualified for his first Olympic Games at last year’s European Games where he won a bronze medal. In the same year he also won gold at the prestigious 2023 Usti nad Labem Grand Prix. His first major international success was European junior silver in 2017. A year later he won silver at European [...]

Aidan Walsh

BIOGRAPHY A Commonwealth Games silver medallist in 2018, Aidan won Olympic bronze in Tokyo by beating Merven Clair of Mauritius in the quarter-finals but an ankle injury unfortunately prevented him from contesting the semi-finals. His return to his second Olympics is remarkable given that he contemplated retirement in the past twelve months. He returned to [...]

Emmet Brennan

BIOGRAPHY Emmet is a two-time Irish champion (once at 75kg, once at 81kg) who gave up boxing at one point, then quit his job and took out a Credit Union loan to pursue his Olympic dream. In March 2019 he needed a top six finish at the Olympic Qualifiers in London to qualify and, after [...]

Kellie Harrington

BIOGRAPHY The reigning Olympic 60kg champion. Kellie’s first major was a World silver medal in 2016 (64kg). She won a World title and European bronze at 60kg in 2018 and silver at the 2019 European Games. Despite the hand injury that delayed her qualification until June 2021 she became Ireland’s third ever Olympic boxing champion [...]

Aoife O’Rourke

BIOGRAPHY Aoife originally took up boxing to get fitter for inter-county football but quickly emerged as world class, winning silver at her first major (European U22s) in 2018. She has a phenomenal 27-1 record since making her Olympic Games debut in 2021 where she lost to China’s two-time silver medallist Qian Li in the last [...]

Kurt Walker

BIOGRAPHY Kurt was a World and European Youth medallist in 2012 and 2013 respectively and won bronze at the 2017 European Championships. In 2018 he took silver at Commonwealth Games and gold at the EU Championships. In 2019 he won gold at the European Games, all at bantamweight (56kg). He had an exceptionally tough 2020, [...]

Brendan Irvine

BIOGRAPHY Brendan, who is captain of the boxing team, is competing in his second Olympics and was just 20 when he competed in Rio 2016 where he was beaten in the last 16 by Ukbekistan’s Shakhobiddin Zoirov. He won 49kg silver at the 2015 European Games in Baku. In 2017 he won a bronze at [...]

Michaela Walsh

BIOGRAPHY Michaela won bronze at World Youths in 2011 and Commonwealth silver in 2014 (flyweight) which she repeated at featherweight in 2018 when she also won European Championship bronze. She took silver at the 2019 European Games and in 2021 qualified for her first Olympics by finishing runner-up in the final Qualifier. Walsh lost to [...]

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