Michael Carruth (born 9 July 1967) is a

southpaw Southpaw is another name for a left-handed individual, particularly in sports. Southpaw may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''The Southpaw'', a 1952 novel by Mark Harris * Southpaw (comics), a fictional character in the Marvel comic ''Sh ...

Irish Olympic

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

from Dublin. He is best known for winning the welterweight gold medal at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

in Barcelona. He turned Pro in 1994 but retired in 2000.

Amateur boxing

;Olympic results ; 1988 Olympics Lightweight Boxing: *1st round bye *Defeated Satoru Higashi (Japan) 5-0 *Lost to George Scott (Sweden) KO by 1 ;

1992 Olympics 1992 Olympics may refer to: *1992 Summer Olympics, which were held in Barcelona, Spain *1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 ...

Welterweight Boxing: *Round of 32: bye *Round of 16: Defeated Mikaele Masoe (American Samoa) on points, 11-2 *Quarter-final: Defeated Andreas Otto (Germany) on points, 35-22 *Semi-final: Defeated

Arkhom Chenglai Arkhom Chenglai ( th, อาคม เฉ่งไล่; ; born June 11, 1970) is a Thai boxer. At the 1992 Summer Olympics he won a bronze medal in the men's Welterweight category. Arkhom before being an amateur boxer was a Muay Thai fighter ...

(Thailand) on points, 11-4 *Final: Defeated Juan Hernández Sierra (Cuba) on points, 13-10 Carruth's medal was Ireland's first ever gold medal in boxing, only a couple of hours after teammate Wayne McCullough had to settle for the silver in bantamweight. It was also the first Olympic gold medal for Ireland since Ronnie Delaney won the Men's 1500m event at the

1956 Olympic Games 1956 Olympics refers to both: *The 1956 Winter Olympics, which were held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy *The 1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport even ...

in Melbourne. Within a few days of Carruth winning his Olympic medal the Government of Ireland announced that Carruth has been instantly promoted to

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

within the Irish Army in recognition of his achievement at the Olympics. And, on the day of his return to Ireland, local pubs dropped the price of beer to that of 1956.

Professional boxing

Carruth turned pro in 1994 after taking leave from his job as a soldier in the Irish Army. He was trained by former Irish boxing great Steve Collins. He had limited success as a pro, losing in both of his defining pro bouts; in 1997 against Mihai Leu for the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

Welterweight title and in 2000 against Adrian Stone for the IBO

Light Middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF or super welterweight in the WBA an ...

title. He retired in 2000, after the loss to Stone, with a career professional record of 18-3-0.

Media

In 2006, he competed on the TV series '' Celebrity Jigs 'n' Reels''. Carruth has been an expert boxing analyst for

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

's Olympic coverage in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. In 2020, Carruth appeared in the fourth season of the Irish edition of ''Dancing with the Stars''. Carruth and his professional partner,

Karen Byrne Karen Byrne (born 30 May 1992) is an Irish dancer and choreographer. She is known as being one of the professional dancers on the Irish version of Dancing with the Stars. Early life Byrne was born in Ballyfermot in Dublin. She has been dancin ...

, were eliminated on 3 February 2020.

Involvement in Gaelic games

During his short spell as senior Westmeath county football team manager,

Brendan Hackett Brendan Hackett (born 1960) is a Gaelic football manager, sports psychologist and former chief executive officer of Athletics Ireland, who is currently managing Ballymun Kickhams. He previously managed the Longford, Offaly and Westmeath count ...

appointed Carruth as masseur in 2009.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Carruth, Michael 1967 births Living people AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists Boxers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Irish Army soldiers Irish male boxers Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of Ireland Olympic gold medalists for Ireland Olympic medalists in boxing Sportspeople from Dublin (city) RTÉ Sports Person of the Year winners Sports masseurs Welterweight boxers Westmeath county football team