George Gibney sentenced to 15.5 years for child sexual abuse

George Gibney, the former Irish Olympic swimming coach, has been sentenced to 15 and a half years in prison for the sexual abuse of children. The 78-year-old was convicted of 39 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape involving girls aged between 8 and 13 during the 1970s and 1980s.

Gibney, who coached Ireland at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, used his position of authority to target victims in various locations, including his office, his vehicle, and his home. While he faced similar charges in 1993, those proceedings were halted by the Supreme Court due to the statute of limitations.

The case was reopened following a 2020 BBC podcast, ‘Where is George Gibney?’, which helped investigators locate him in Florida. After being arrested in the United States in 2025, he was extradited to Ireland to face trial. Judge Micheál P O’Higgins described Gibney as a ‘manipulative predator’ who engaged in systematic attacks.