Flyweight (≤51 kilograms), Men

Nate Brooks’ Olympic dream came close to ending before he earned a place on the US team to Helsinki. During a regional preliminary bout of the US Olympic trials, he suffered a deep cut on his eyebrow and only narrowly survived a medical inspection. Although Brooks had a growing reputation inside America, he lacked international experience and was not expected to challenge the Soviet star Anatoly Bulakov. When Bulakov was surprisingly outpointed by German fighter Edgar Basel, the draw opened up for Brooks and, despite a scare against Romania’s Mircea Dobrescu in the quarter-final, a string of impressive displays of counterpunching earned him the Olympic title.

Like so many fighters before and after, Brooks aspired to a career in professional boxing. Although he started strongly as a pro and was North American champion, his career faded away with a string of defeats. Bronze medalist Willie Toweel was a member of a famous South African boxing family which produced 13 professional fighters.