Eddie Heron

Ireland’s greatest ever diver Eddie Heron was originally selected for the five-man Ireland swimming and diving team for the 1948 Olympic Games but from the moment they arrived in London, the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) was embroiled in Olympic politics. Because Liam Jones and Ernie McCartney were both born in Belfast (Northern Ireland), they were told by both the world governing body FINA and the IOC that they could not compete for Ireland (Southern Ireland). As a result, the entire Irish swimming and diving squad withdrew in solidarity.

Heron was the only member of the Irish squad who got to compete in London. He took part in the first round of dives in the springboard event pending an appeal by the OCI on the position of the Northern Ireland swimmers in the Irish team. When the team was eventually withdrawn, Heron took no further part in the Games and was lying 23rd out of 27 starters at the time.

The son of a Dublin butcher, who was also a local gymnast and diver, his father encouraged the young Heron to take up gymnastics at the age of four. Eddie later turned to diving and joined the Sandycove Swimming Club, and his first major triumph was in winning the boy’s diving title at the 1924 Tailteann Games. He also finished third in the senior event won by the Olympic champion Dick Eve of Australia. Heron also won his first Leinster title in 1924 and that was the start of his dominance of Irish diving, which lasted more than 25 years until his retirement in 1950. During his time at the top, Heron won 34 national titles and the 1928 and 1932 Tailteann Games gold medals. The highlight of his career, however, was in winning the ASA platform title in 1933, having been runner-up in 1932. He was also second in 1934 and third in 1947.

At the time of the 1948 Olympics, Heron was president of the Irish Amateur Swimming Association (IASA), and in 1978 was elected to the Texaco Sports Stars Hall of Fame, the only water-sports athlete to be so honoured at the time. Heron was also a good standard Gaelic footballer in his younger days and played for Dublin in the Leinster championship. Heron came out of retirement in 1968 and won his 35th national diving title (springboard) at the age of 57. He was also giving diving exhibitions beyond the age of 60 and still managed to draw crowds of up to 5,000.

A turf accountant (bookmaker) by profession, Heron’s vast collection of sporting medals and trophies were stolen from his home in December 1984. Four months later Heron died after a long illness. The year following his death, Sandycove SC organised the first “Eddie Heron Race”, an open sea race which became an annual event.