A former Irish swim coach who hid in the U.S. for 30 years was convicted Monday of sexually assaulting multiple underage female athletes in the 70s and 80s.
After seven hours of deliberation, a jury declared 77-year-old swim coach George Gibney guilty of 39 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape. (RELATED: British Pedophile Pop Star Gary Glitter Charged With Additional Alleged Underage Sex Crimes)
Originally charged with 79 counts of assault against girls aged seven to 14, Gibney pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault at the beginning of the trial, the BBC reported. The former swim coach denied 73 counts of assault and one count of attempted rape.
Jurors were instructed to return not guilty verdicts on 33 counts made by two accusers, due to lack of evidentiary support.
A former Irish national swimming coach, George Gibney, has been convicted of a number of sexual offences, including attempted rape in the 1970s and 1980s.https://t.co/XjdtTR0MmY
— BBC News NI (@BBCNewsNI) July 6, 2026
Gibney was extradited from the U.S. in July 2025 after living there for 30 years. The swim coach disappeared from Ireland in 1995, eventually taking up residence in Florida, the BBC reported. (RELATED: Tim Walz Approves Pardon For Illegal Immigrant Child Rapist Slated For Deportation)
Gibney originally appeared at Ireland’s Dún Laoghaire District Court in 1993, where he faced 27 charges of indecent assault against female swimmers under the age of 15. The Supreme Court halted the charges in a Judicial Review, after Gibney’s lawyers argued the allegations were too vague and too much time had elapsed for the swim coach to stand trial, The Irish Times reported.
The Garda National Protective Services Bureau reopened an investigation into Gibney after the BBC ran a podcast called “Where Is George Gibney?” in 2020, the BBC reported.
Gibney served as the head coach for the Irish National Swim Team during both the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. He co-founded the prominent Trojan Swimming Club in 1976, which acted as a base for national swimmers and helped put Ireland on the swimming map.
The judge remanded Gibney to custody, where he will remain until his sentencing, scheduled for July 29, 2026.