Oliver Dingley Named Swim Ireland Athlete of the Year

November 24, 2018

Irish diver Oliver Dingley was tonight named Performance Athlete of the Year at the Swim Ireland Awards in Ennistymon, Co. Clare. Dingley is currently swimming and diving’s top world ranked Irish athlete after a stellar summer of competition. The 23-year-old finished 7^th at the Diving World Cup in June, securing a place in the prestigious Diving World Series, an event for only the top 8 divers in the world. 

European Champion Ellen Keane won the Para Swimmer of the Year Award with coach Dave Malone collecting the Performance Coach of the Year accolade. 

World Youth Olympic Games Silver medallist Niamh Coyne was honoured with the Performance Pathway Swimmer of the Year Award while after an incredible breakthrough year young Tanya Watson took home the Performance Pathway Diver of the Year Award. Coyne’s National Centre Dublin Coach Ben Higson was named Performance Pathway Coach of the Year.

Templeogue Swimming Club received the club of the year award after being selected from a panel of four regional winners which included Claremorris SC, Killarney SC and Ards SC.

Ards SC collected two other awards with Head Coach Davy Johnston named Team Coach of the Year and Trevor Reid Ulster Volunteer of the Year.  Galway’s Tracy Boland (Connacht), Barracuda’s (Leinster) Louise Doyle and Ennis’ (Munster) Catriona McDonnell were recipients of the other regional volunteer awards while Diving volunteers Mary Power and Nicole Emmet Byrne were named National Volunteers of the Year.

Helen O’Leary was an extremely popular winner of the Masters Outstanding Achievement Award, Aer Lingus Masters’ Charlotte Reid was the deserved winner of the Open Water Swimmer of the Year Award while with a lifelong involvement in water polo, Gerry O’Neill was awarded the Water Polo Outstanding Contribution Award.

Kingdom SC twins Mike and Tim O’Connell were presented with the President’s Award for their contribution to the sport in Kerry and beyond.

There were three inductees into the Swim Ireland Hall of Fame. RTE’s John Kenny was first to be inducted for his support of Irish swimming and diving over the past 30 years. Ireland’s first and only ever relay at an Olympic Games – Aisling O’Leary, Ann O’Connor, Brenda McGrory and Christine Fulcher – who competed at the 1972 Munich Games were inducted by 2020 Olympic hopefuls Brendan Hyland, Conor Ferguson, Darragh Greene and Jordan Sloan while Wally Clarke, a lifelong competitor and now volunteer was also inducted.

The night concluded with the Swim Ireland Presidential Handover as the chain of office was passed from Maggie Purcell (Munster) to Leinster’s Declan Harte.

November 24, 2018