Fred Tiedt

Fred Tiedt was the second Irishman to win a boxing silver medal at the Olympics but should have been the first to win gold. Who said so? Most of the crowd inside the West Melbourne Stadium at the 1956 Games. The decision to award the contest to Tiedt’s Romanian opponent Nicolae Linca (despite Tiedt winning on points 299-297) was described by Nat Fleischer, the world’s leading boxing authority, as the worst decision he had seen in a lifetime of watching amateur and professional boxing. Even the Official Report of the 1956 Games said that Tiedt was “Probably the most unlucky boxer”. One consolation for Ireland was that Ronnie Delany won the 1500 metres track final on the same day that Tiedt was suffered his disapointment.

The son of Austrian immigrants, Tiedt was a trainee carpenter after leaving school. He was one of four brothers who boxed for Belfast’s South City Boxing Club, and Fred went on to be involved in boxing as an amateur and professional fighter, coach, and referee for more than 40 years. In 66 amateur bouts, Tiedt had a 49-16-1 record and his battles with Harry Perry were some of the best welterweight contests seen in Ireland. Tiedt beat Perry in a national final just once, to win his only Irish title in 1957, and that same year he reached the semi-final to win a bronze medal at the European Amateur Championships in Praha (Prague).

Tiedt made his Ireland International début in 1953 and the following year beat Dick McTaggart while fighting for Ireland against the Royal Air Force (RAF) in Dublin. Tiedt turned professional in 1959 and in a five-year career won 12 of his 21 fights after being unbeaten in his first eight bouts.

After ending his fighting career, Tiedt became a coach at Trinity College Dublin and later became a referee, officiating in amateur and professional bouts. He was also a boxing pundit on Irish television. Trinity awarded him an honorary MA degree in 1993. By profession, Tiedt was a maintenance supervisor for the Irish paper manufacturer Smurfit. One of his three sons, Emile, also became a boxing referee.

Tiedt died on 16 June 1999, and until the very end maintained that he should have been Ireland’s first Olympic boxing champion. Ironically, he was invited by the family of Michael Carruth (who Tiedt later refereed as a pro) to watch him become Ireland’s first Olympic boxing gold medallist at their Dublin home on 8 August 1992. Tiedt knew that Michael should have been the second Irish gold medallist, not the first … as did Nat Fleischer!