Piet van Vuuren

Piet van Vuuren ranked as one of South Africa’s top amateur boxers in the 1950s. He won a total of five national titles in the middleweight and light-heavyweight between 1951 and 1956. In 1954, he won the gold medal at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, beating Australia’s Tony Madigan to the gold. Despite high expectations for the Melbourne Olympics, Van Vuuren was elminated in his first bout there. Not interested in becoming a professional, Van Vuuren retired from the sport after the Games.