- By John Haughey
- BBC Sport NI
Jim McCourt clinched Commonwealth Games gold in 1966 in Jamaica two years after securing Olympic bronze
Belfast man Jim McCourt, who clinched an Olympic boxing bronze medal in 1964 and a Commonwealth Games gold two years later, has died at the age of 79.
McCourt won his Tokyo Olympics medal after a controversial 3-2 defeat by the Soviet Union’s Velikton Barannikov in their lightweight semi-final.
The Belfast boxer’s bronze was Ireland’s only medal at the 1964 Games.
McCourt won a European bronze medal a year later before his Commonwealth Games triumph in Kingston.
The Immaculata club-man’s career also included seven Irish senior titles.
Many feel that McCourt was among the very best of Ireland’s Olympic boxing heroes with a skill set few of his compatriots have been able to match before or since – despite the country’s renowned pugilistic pedigree.
Boxing has been Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport by far with 18 fighters from the Emerald Isle having clinched medals at the Games.
‘Russian told Daddy he won Olympic semi-final’
The Belfast man’s daughter Cathy, herself a successful distance runner for many years and who won the World Masters Half Marathon title 14 months ago, told BBC Sport Northern Ireland that McCourt’s Olympic semi-final opponent Barannikov had contacted him decades later to apologise about the verdict in the Tokyo bout.
“The Russian fighter sent him a letter about 20 years ago saying that he knew Daddy had won the fight,” said Cathy.
“He said that he wanted to make peace with him so he sent him a gold spoon which is something apparently that Russians do when they want to make peace with someone.
“Barannikov said that he had it on his conscience all those years and that Daddy had won the fight and should have gone on to win the gold.
“He said Daddy was the greatest fighter he had ever fought and there were many who said that he was Ireland’s greatest ever amateur.”
The Belfast boxing great battled illness in recent times but his passing on Monday was unexpected.
“He was still looking great until yesterday. He had been ill but he rallied so many times. He just went really, really quickly in the end,” added the boxer’s daughter.
Jim McCourt (left) pictured in 2001 with other Olympic boxing medallists from Belfast, Wayne McCullough, Freddie Gilroy, Hugh Russell and John Caldwell
BBC Northern Ireland boxing commentator Jim Neilly described McCourt as “an outstanding amateur boxer”.
“He should have got more than Olympic bronze and Jim will be right up there as one of Ireland’s and Northern Ireland’s greatest amateur boxers,” added Neilly.
“Jim had very quick hands, was strong and had a great chin as well. He was terrific.
“And he was a lovely fellow as well with a great sense of humour.”
McCourt won his Olympic and European Championship bronze medals in the lightweight division before moving to light-welterweight to clinch his Commonwealth Games gold in 1966.
After being Ireland’s only Olympic medallist in 1964, he was Ireland’s flag bearer at the Mexico Games opening ceremony four years later but his hopes of repeating or bettering his Tokyo achievement were dashed.
However, McCourt continued to land national titles into the 1970s and his outstanding career saw him inducted into the Irish Amateur Boxing Association hall of fame in 2011.