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Trish Kearney has described being so ensnared by George Gibney that she was unable to report the abuse.
The writer was 13 when she joined the Trojan Swimming Club where George Gibney was a coach.
Her life changed forever after he began abusing her until she left the swimming world at age 19.
She has now written a memoir titled Above Water about her life and her story of surviving abuse.
Speaking to
Alive and Kicking with Clare McKenna, Trish said she has mixed emotions about taking control of her story with the book, but it was a thrill to see it published.
Trish Kearney was just 13 and a promising swimmer when George Gibney, the internationally recognised coach, began to abuse her. The process of control, entrapment and sexual abuse carried on for years. Finally, she escaped him and moved on, somehow managing to suppress the horrific memories deep inside. Until one day, a letter from a fellow swimmer brought those memories back to the surface. Here, she recalls that time.
Trish Kearney was nine when she first dreamed of being an Olympic swimmer. Haphazard and laid-back at school, she sought perfection in the pool. And she was good. Very good. She competed, won medals, and was so committed to training that she kept quiet about colds, sore throats, coughs, in case she wasn t allowed to swim. When she was 12 she joined a swimming club to further her dreams. There, she was coached by George Gibney, already a force in Irish swimming; a go-getter whose methods were getting results.
By then, Trish was training twice a day - at 5.15am and again in the evening - every day except Sundays, and was part of a talented group that included the later Olympic swimmer Gary O Toole.
Trish Kearney was just 13 and a promising swimmer when George Gibney, the internationally recognised coach, began to abuse her. The process of control, entrapment and sexual abuse carried on for years. Finally, she escaped him and moved on, somehow managing to suppress the horrific memories deep inside. Until one day, a letter from a fellow swimmer brought those memories back to the surface. Here, she recalls that time.