Ernie McCartney

Ernie McCartney 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 McCartney and Liam Jones 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.

As McCartney recalled some years later, he was stood poolside at the Empire Pool waiting to start his 100 metres freestyle heat when he heard the news that the Ireland team had withdrawn from the swimming events. Effectively, at nearly 27-years-of-age, his Olympic career was over before it had started. McCartney gave up competitive swimming shortly afterwards to concentrate on coaching, although he did compete in Masters events in his 50s, and swam as a pastime until just before his 90th birthday.

As a teenager McCartney was a keen rower and water polo player but concentrated on swimming, which he found he was good at after first going to Ormeau baths in Belfast as a 10-year-old. He went on to break every Irish record from 100 to 1,500 yards and in 1942 won five individual national freestyle titles. He was inducted in the Irish Swimming Hall of Fame in 1977. By profession McCartney was head of the textile department at Belfast Technical College for 26 years until his retirement in 1987.