Ex-Irish National Swim Coach Living in the U.S. Convicted of Child Rape

Former Swim Coach Found Guilty of Sexual Assault

A former Irish swim coach, who had been in hiding in the United States for three decades, was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting several underage female athletes during the 1970s and 1980s.

After deliberating for seven hours, the jury convicted 77-year-old George Gibney on 39 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape.

Initially facing 79 counts related to assaults on girls aged 7 to 14, Gibney pleaded guilty to five charges of indecent assault at the start of the trial. He denied 73 assault charges and the attempted rape charge.

The jury was directed to deliver a not guilty verdict on 33 of the counts against two of the accusers due to insufficient evidence.

Gibney, who was extradited from the U.S. in July 2025, had been living in Florida since he vanished from Ireland in 1995. Earlier, in 1993, he appeared in Dun Laoghaire District Court facing 27 counts of indecent assault on female swimmers under 15. Those charges were blocked for judicial review after his legal team argued they were vague and would take too long to adjudicate.

After a BBC report prompted renewed scrutiny, the Garda National Protection Service reopened its investigation into him, following discussions featured in a podcast titled “Where is George Gibney?” in 2020.

Gibney had served as the head coach for the Irish national swimming team during the 1984 and 1988 Olympics and co-founded the Trojan Swimming Club in 1976, which became a pivotal center for national swimmers in Ireland.