Adrian Blair
{{short description|Australian boxer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox boxer
| name = Adrian Blair
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| weight = 62 kg
| height = 166 cm
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| nationality = Australian
| birth_date = {{birth date|1943|12|21|df=y}}
| birth_place = Cherbourg, Queensland, Australia
| death_date = 2008
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Adrian Blair (21 December 1943 – 2008) was an Indigenous Australian boxer. He is known for being one of the first three Indigenous athletes to be included in the Australian Olympic team ever, competing in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in Japan.
Biography
Adrian Blair was born on 21 December 1943{{cite Sports-Reference |title=Adrian Blair |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/bl/adrian-blair-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418060656/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/bl/adrian-blair-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |accessdate=10 May 2015}} in Cherbourg, Queensland.{{cite web | title= Adrian Blair | website=Olympedia | url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/5028 | access-date=20 January 2025}}
During his boxing career, he was 166 cm in height and weighed {{cvt| 62 |kg}}. In 1961 he became the national featherweight champion, going on to become the national lightweight champion in 1962 and 1964.{{cite web | title=NAIDOC WEEK 2020: Always Was, Always Will Be | website=Australian Olympic Committee | date=8 November 2020 | url=https://www.olympics.com.au/news/naidoc-week-2020-always-was-always-will-be-australias-first-indigenous-olympians/ | access-date=20 January 2025}}
He competed at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia.
In the six years prior to his selection for the Australian Olympic team in 1964, Blair fought 70 fights, winning 47 of them. He competed at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in the lightweight division.{{cite web |title=Australian Indigenous Olympians |url=http://corporate.olympics.com.au/files/dmfile/Australian%20Indigenous%20Olympians_19Feb2015_v2.pdf |website=Australian Olympic Committee website |accessdate=10 May 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311034717/http://corporate.olympics.com.au/files/dmfile/Australian%20Indigenous%20Olympians_19Feb2015_v2.pdf| archive-date=11 March 2016}} His first round was a bye, after which he won his bout against Taiwanese boxer Chee-Chu Wang by knockout, less than two minutes into the fight. He lost his third round on points to Soviet boxer Vilikton Barannikov, who went on to win the silver medal.{{cite web | title=Adrian Blair | website=Australian Olympic Committee | url=https://www.olympics.com.au/olympians/adrian-blair/ | access-date=20 January 2025}}
Blair was one of three Indigenous Australian athletes to be the first to be selected for the Australian Olympic team, along with fellow boxer Frank Roberts and basketballer Michael Ah Matt.Osmond, Gary, Phillips, Murray G., and Harvey, Alistair (2022). [https://doi.org/10.5406/26396025.3.1.05 Fighting colonialism: Olympic boxing and Australian race relations]. Journal of Olympic Studies 3 (1), 72-95.
He was inducted into the Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{AOC profile}}
- {{Commonwealth Games Australia|adrian-blair}}
- {{Olympics.com profile}}
- {{Olympedia}}
- {{Commonwealth Games Federation}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Adrian}}
Category:Australian male boxers
Category:Indigenous Australian boxers
Category:Indigenous Australian Olympians
Category:Olympic boxers for Australia
Category:Boxers at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Category:Boxers at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Category:Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia
Category:Sportsmen from Queensland