Rider's legends: Chris Finnegan

Chris Finnegan returns to London in triumph

BBC Olympics presenter Steve Rider highlights some of the great Olympians from the pages of history.

It has been 32 years since a British boxer won gold at an Olympic Games but Chris Finnegan is not too bothered.

He was that boxer, and is happy to see that gold rise in rarity value every four years.

"People say it's depressing that we haven't won a gold in the ring for all those years but I don't find it depressing at all," he laughs.

"I am proud of my record and don't want really want to see it broken - just yet."

Finnegan was a 24-year-old bricklayer from Buckinghamshire when he made his first trip outside of Europe, won his first four bouts at Mexico City and then, in his fifth fight, beat Aleksey Kisselyov of the Soviet Union to take the middleweight title.

Finnegan: A Sixties success

The former British amateur champion went out with high hopes which just got higher and higher.

"I thought I had a good chance of winning a medal. I had seen or fought most of the best middleweights in Europe and didn't think there was anything to fear," Finnegan now recalls.

"I had four fights before the final and felt my confidence growing and growing."

Rostrum

There were few negative thoughts as he emerged from the dressing room to take on Kisselyov, who four years earlier had fought as a light-heavyweight in Tokyo.

"As we came out I saw the rostrum and jumped onto the gold medal platform and told our trainer David Jones that I was going to be back here in nine minutes," said Finnegan.

"He probably thought I was getting a bit over confident but he just said, 'I dearly hope so Chris'."

Finnegan admits it was a very close fight which he only secured in the last round against the fast-tiring former light-heavyweight.

" I had let him do most of the chasing in the opening round and then started to get to work in the second and took the fight to him in the final round which swung it my way.

"He was knackerd by the end. Another round and I would have stopped him.

"I knew I'd won before the announcement because the ref squeezed my hand as we waited for the decision. Mind you, I thought, if he's winding me up I'm going to knock his head off."

Pro

Olympic glory launched Finnegan's professional career although he soon moved up to light-heavyweight.

He took the British, Commonwealth and European titles but failed to take the world crown despite an heroic effort against the champion and overwhelming favourite Bob Foster in an epic 14 round duel at Wembley.

Finnegan retired in 1975 after an eye operation and descibes life since then as spent "ducking and diving".

He is still keeps in touch with the boxing fraternity and regulalry meets up with Terry Spinks, the British flyweight gold medallist from the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

Finnegan is still waiting for a successor to visit him.