Peter Heatly

Peter Heatly won his first title, the East of Scotland title, in 1937 and despite losing many of his peak years to World War II went on to dominate Scottish and latterly British diving for the late 1940s and most of the 50s. In international competition he won a bronze medal in the platform event at the European Championships in 1954 but his greatest successes came representing Scotland in the British Empire (now Commonwealth) Games where he won five medals including three golds. Heatly won the platform event in 1950 and 1958 and the springboard in 1954. The last of his titles came at the advanced age, for a diver, of 34. Although he qualified as a civil engineer he was better known as a key figure in sports administration and served as Chairman of the Scottish Sports Council for more than a decade.

He was also Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation from 1982-90 including the boycott-hit 1986 edition that was held in his home city of Edinburgh. Heatly was awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1971 and a knighthood in 1990.

Sir Peter’s grandson, James Heatly, followed in his grandfather’s footsteps by competing at the 2014 Commonwealth Games as a diver and was a gold medallist on the springboard at the inaugural European Games in Baku in 2015.