Olympic Games Melbourne team honoured: There is no better excuse to get all nostalgic about the Olympics than the 50th anniversary of Melbourne 1956, where an Irish team of seven boxers, three athletes, one yachtsman and a wrestler won five medals and experienced enough citius, altius, fortius to last a lifetime.

And there's no better way to discover how much the Olympics have changed - and how much they've stayed the same - than getting those team-mates together again.

It's not quite 50 years since the Melbourne Games opened on November 22nd, 1956, but for eight members of that Irish team it still seems like yesterday. They've gathered in a Dublin hotel, along with representatives of the other four members, and every tale they tell seems as incredible as the next.

What's most surprising is that entire team got to Melbourne at all. Ronnie Delany, who became the headline act with his gold-medal run in the 1,500 metres, was a borderline selection. High jumper Brendan O'Reilly had his bags packed at his college in Ann Arbor, Michigan, only to receive a two-word telegram: "Trip Cancelled."

Fate and economics did their best to conspire against the team that became the most successful in Irish Olympic history.

"I was actually a last-minute entry," says Freddie Gilroy, the Belfast boxer who secured bantamweight bronze. "I still don't know what that was about. I think they thought I wouldn't make the weight. I was just back from a tour of America and Canada, and someone happened to see me jump on the scales, and weigh in at nine stone. So they reckoned I wouldn't make bantamweight."

Fortunately, Gilroy got to join John Caldwell, a friend from Belfast and future rival in the ring. Caldwell set the standard for the week by winning bronze at flyweight, and Gilroy was determined to do better.

"Oh yeah, we were geared up for it after that, so I definitely went out to win, show them what I could do. I knocked out the big Russian favourite in the quarter-finals, thought I was home and dry to win the gold.

"But Russia had just blown Hungary to pieces, and this whole West-versus-East thing was going on. That created a hard situation where half the crowd were shouting for the West, and other half for the East.

"So yeah, to me, I was robbed in the semi-final. Two judges went for me, and the other two to the East German. So they brought in the referee, and he happened to be Russian. So of course he gave it to the East German. And he went on to win the gold."

With that Gilroy pulls a small box from his blazer pocket and opens it up to reveal his Olympic bronze medal.

"My wife tells me I've rubbed it up so much it looks like gold. And it should have been gold. But sure it cleans up well enough to look like gold. But actually, percentage-wise, we won the most medals of any team in Melbourne."

From his wallet Gilroy slips out a small photo that shows the Irish boxers, with Tony Byrne carrying a large Irish flag,

"Tony actually stole that flag," he laughs. "But then we did appoint him our captain. Early on we were told that since we were brought out here at a cost of around £650 each there was nothing left for expenses. So Tony got us together and said if we didn't get expenses, maybe 15 bob a day, we weren't going to box. So they had to give it to us."

Byrne was a natural captain, carrying the Tricolour in the opening ceremony. Born and raised in Drogheda, he's lived in Edmonton in Canada since 1962, but as with his fellow Olympic boxers, the Melbourne memories are frequently revisited.

"I get home every couple of years," he says. "I have to. Of course winning the medal was one of the highlights of my career, but carrying the flag . . . was special too."

Dressed for the day in his 1956 team blazer, Byrne also produces his Olympic bronze medal.

"I actually did win the gold," he jokes, "but I had it bronzed afterwards. But then two months later I did actually beat the English fellow that won the gold. That made me feel good."

Like all the Irish team, Byrne was in the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the afternoon of December 1st to watch Ronnie Delany in the 1,500-metre final.

"We were cheering like mad for him," he recalls. "I reckon he heard us, and that's the reason he won."

With that gold medal secured, they all headed for the boxing arena that evening to watch the late Fred Tiedt take on Romania's Nicolae Linca in the welterweight final.

"He was definitely robbed," says Gilroy, and the enduring verdict is that the Dubliner should won gold and not silver. It was still a superb feat, delivering a record fifth medal for Ireland.

Even those that didn't win medals have special memories of Melbourne. Maeve Kyle was the only female on the team, and she remains a little baffled at how she ended up there in the first place.

"I'd really only just started in athletics," says Kyle, also wearing her 1956 blazer as if it were fitted yesterday. "Mostly because at that stage there just wasn't any athletics for women. I still think I was like the suffragette of women's athletics.

"I still have the letter to say I was picked, but I really couldn't believe it. Then because of the Suez crisis we were told to avoid the Middle East, and headed out via New York and San Francisco, with a stopover in Hawaii.

"So the travel was very, very exciting. I mean Hawaii to me back then was like Mars would be to a modern youngster.

"But it also meant I got a little homesick. I'd left behind a fairly new husband, and my young daughter had her second birthday while I was away.

"What happened was we became one big family; all looked out for each other. And when Ronnie Delany won his gold we were cheering like lunatics. It made us so proud to be Irish.

"The fact is Ireland was a very poor country in those days: people were scraping for a living, and the level of education was poor. So this gave us a huge lift."

Clearly the pride of that 1956 team - Olympians, medal winners, pioneers - is still as strong 50 years later.

The Team of 56

John Caldwell

One of Ireland's finest boxers. Won his first national amateur title in 1956 and later that year surprised many by reaching the Olympic flyweight semi-final. Later enjoyed a successful professional career.

Freddie Gilroy

A neighbour of John Caldwell in Belfast. He was part of an elite group of Ulster boxers in the 1950s. After winning bantamweight bronze in Melbourne, he became British professional champion, defeating Caldwell in a memorable bout in Belfast's Kings Hall.

Tony Byrne

A member of the Tredagh Club in Drogheda, Byrne was at the forefront of Irish boxing for five years before his career took him to Melbourne and a place in the lightweight semi-finals. He emigrated to Canada but is still remembered as one of the most colourful personalities of his era.

Harry Perry

Acknowledged as one of the finest Irish boxers of all times. He won eight national titles in consecutive years and capped his career with a European bronze medal.

Fred Tiedt

His silver medal was in some respects the biggest surprise of all in the boxing competitions in Melbourne. He had been outpointed by Perry in the Irish Championships of 1956 but he went on to vindicate the Irish selectors by reaching the welterweight final and was, by common consent, unlucky to lose.

Pat Sharkey

Sharkey boxed in his native Donegal before emigrating to Australia in the mid 1950s. He was a surprise selection at heavyweight for the 1956 Olympics but was a popular additon to the team.

Martin Smyth

Ireland's featherweight representative was unlucky to meet the in-form Finn Pentii Hamalainin in his first bout and despite a brave effort progressed no further.

Ronnie Delany

His 1,500-metre victory in Melbourne is widely regarded as the outstanding achievement by an Irish athlete in the 20th century. Written off as a contender he confounded the pundits with a clear-cut victory in the most hyped 1,500m final in history. In 1958 he took European 800-metre bronze.

Eamon Kinsella

A splendid physical specimen and one of the most talented athletes ever to represent Ireland. His form in the (120-yard and 110-metre) hurdles set the standard for years.

Maeve Kyle

Made history by becoming the first Irishwoman to compete in the Olympic Games. Also an international hockey player, she again competed in the 1960 Rome Olympics and in Tokyo 1964.

John Sommers Payne

An accomplished yachtsman whose performances under sail are seen as an important part of the development of the sport in Ireland.

Gerry Martina

A highly versatile athlete who played rugby before competing as a wrestler in Melbourne. In some respects he was the unluckiest Irish competitor in the 1956 games, just missing out on a medal when finishing fourth in his division. He later worked as a masseur with the Ireland football team.