Catherine Bohan competed in the women’s 100 metres breaststroke at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, setting a new Irish record of 1:16.84 – the sole Irish swimming achievement in the Moscow pool that was wholly straightforward.

A member of the King’s Hospital Club, Dublin, Bohan had qualified in February 1980 after what coach Derry O’Rourke described as a very thorough winter programme, including training weekends, a training week in the Canary Islands and international competition across Europe.

Her Moscow performance, however, was overshadowed by the conduct of her coach: O’Rourke abandoned his managerial and coaching duties to perform radio commentary for RTÉ on the day she competed – a clear breach of Olympic regulations forbidding media work by officials during the Games.

As the OCI minutes recorded, this ‘happened on a day when an Irish swimmer was competing and this person had no support from the Coach.’ The abandoned swimmer was Bohan herself. The matter was referred to the IASA but no public disciplinary action followed.