Léonard Steyaert

Léonard Steyaert was born in Antwerpen and began boxing in his teen years in the mid-1920s. The winner of the 1927 and 1928 amateur middleweight titles, he was selected as a member of the national boxing delegation to compete at the Amsterdam Olympic Games. Competing in the middleweight tournament, Steyaert became the only Belgian boxer to win a medal at those games, capturing the bronze after defeating Fred Mallin of Great Britain. Following the Olympics, Steyaert later turned to the professional ranks in 1929 and enjoyed a career which spanned just over a decade, amassing a record of 31 wins (8 by KO), 27 losses, and 15 draws before retiring in 1941. He also won the professional title in light-heavyweight in 1933.

Steyeart was the brother of two other well-known professional boxers of the same era, Jules, who competed as a lightweight between 1922 and 1946; and Frans/François (better known by his ring name René De Vos), a welterweight who was active in the early to mid-1920s.