Olympics and Controversy
Leading up the 1984 Olympics, O'Sullivan and fellow Canadian Willie de Wit were both favoured to win the gold medals in their classes: de Wit as a heavyweight and O'Sullivan as a light middleweight.
In the gold medal bout with Frank Tate, O’Sullivan took Tate to two standing-eight-counts in the second round (and nearly a third as the round ended), but the judges unanimously gave the decision to Tate. O'Sullivan dominated the second round; however, four of the judges (Keith Walker of New Zealand, Han Dong Jin of South Korea, Noureddine Addala of Tunisia and Muili Ojo of Nigeria) gave Tate the round by the slim margin of 20-19.
Tate was booed when the gold medal was draped around his neck. Tate had won in a 5-0 decision and even his coach, Emanuel Steward, admitted O'Sullivan may have won. O'Sullivan, who himself had benefited from a controversial decision against Christophe Tiozzo in the semifinals, was gracious in defeat and called the outcome "unfortunate".
His results were:
- 1st round bye
- Defeated Mohamed Halibi (Libya) RSC 2
- Defeated Ahn Dal-Ho (South Korea) RSC 1
- Defeated Rod Douglas (Great Britain) 5-0
- Defeated Christophe Tiozzo (France) 5-0
- Lost to Frank Tate (United States) 0-5
Read more about this topic: Shawn O'Sullivan
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