Aisling Cooney represented Ireland in the women’s 100 metres backstroke at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, becoming one of the youngest Irish swimmers ever to compete at an Olympics at the age of 17.

From Sandymount in Dublin, Cooney trained with ESB Swimming Club under head coach Bill McCarthy. She qualified for Beijing after breaking the Irish national record with a time of 1:02.24 at the Irish Long Course Championships in Dublin in May 2008 – a mark just half a second outside the FINA A standard.

At Beijing she swam 1:02.50 in her heat, competing from an outside lane in heat four. She held the Irish national record in the 50 metres backstroke and continued to compete at senior level for several years after the Games, winning the 50 metres backstroke at the Irish Short Course Championships and competing at the European Short Course Championships in Eindhoven.