Anthony Byrne

Tony Byrne
Data
Birth Name	Anthony Byrne
Fight name	Socks
Weight class	lightweight
nationality	Ireland
birthday	July 6, 1930
place of birth	Drogheda , Ireland
Date of death	April 27, 2013
Place of death	Edmonton , Canada
Medal table
Olympic games 0 × 0 × 1 ×
Olympic games bronze Melbourne 1956 lightweight

Anthony "Tony" Byrne (born July 6, 1930 in Drogheda , † April 27, 2013 in Edmonton , Canada ) was an Irish boxer .

biography

Anthony Byrne grew up in a poorer family and was interested in boxing at a young age. His mother provided for the family of eight on her own with her low income, which she received from cleaning a church. Because of these financial hardships, Byrne had no boxing boots in his youth, but only fought in socks and was nicknamed "Socks".

Byrne was nominated for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne . His participation was questionable, however, as the athletes at that time had to pay for their own travel to the Olympic Games. Byrne, who was working as a baker at the time and supplied the residents by carriage, did not have the financial means for the trip. A fundraiser called “Send Byrne to Melbourne” raised £ 653 from local businesses in his hometown of Drogheda, ensuring his participation in the Olympics. At the opening ceremony he was the flag bearer of the Irish delegation . In the lightweight he was able to move into the semifinals with victories over the Czechoslovak Josef Chovanec and the US-American Louis Molina . There he was defeated by the German Harry Kurschat and thus won the bronze medal. However, Byrne's best fight came a few weeks after the Olympics when he defeated Melbourne gold medalist Richard McTaggart in January 1957 . Byrne never became a professional boxer and won 201 of his 208 amateur fights during his career. In 1962, Byrne emigrated to Canada with his family and settled in Edmonton, where he worked at a local meat packing plant and later on a municipal maintenance team. His children also started boxing and were trained by him at the North Edmonton Boxing Club .

Byrne died in Edmonton in 2013 at the age of 82.

Web links

• Anthony Byrne in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )