Marguerite Dockrell made history at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games as Ireland’s first female Olympic swimmer, competing in the women’s 100 metres freestyle at the age of sixteen.

She came from one of Ireland’s great swimming families: her father George Shannon Dockrell had competed for Great Britain at the 1908 Olympic Games, and her uncle Henry Morgan Dockrell was an outstanding swimmer, water polo international and a distinguished IASA administrator who held the positions of President, Secretary and Treasurer of the association.

Marguerite Dockrell won the Irish 100 yards freestyle title for the first time in 1926 and went on to win the title five times in total as well as four 220 yards titles.

She finished third in her heat at Amsterdam in 1:31.6.

After the Games, she spent a year studying languages in Montpelier, France, before entering Trinity College and the School of Dental Science. She later worked as a school dental officer in South Oxfordshire, travelling between schools in a Vauxhall 14 towing a caravan fitted out as a mobile surgery.