Jim McCourt

James Vincent McCourt was an Irish boxer from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Biography

McCourt won a bronze medal for Ireland in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the lightweight division. He lost a hotly disputed 3–2 decision to Russian Velikton Barannikov in the semi-final. Shortly after the games, McCourt defeated Olympic champion Józef Grudzień of Poland. A year later, he repeated his bronze medal performance at the 1965 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Berlin in the same grade.
McCourt represented the [Northern Ireland at the Olympics|Ireland at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games|1966 Northern Irish Team] at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, participating in the 63.5kg light-welterweight category and won the gold medal.
McCourt was rated the number one amateur boxer in the world for four years. A master of defence and counter punching, he was inducted in the Irish Amateur Boxing Hall of Fame.