Aisling O’Leary competed in the women’s 800 metres freestyle at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, becoming the youngest Irish competitor in Olympic history at the age of 15 years and 55 days – a distinction she still holds.

She had set an Irish record and achieved her qualification time at the ASA championships in July 1972, and competed at the Games in a field of the world’s leading distance swimmers, finishing with a time of 10:18.05.

Her appearance at Munich at the age of fifteen remained one of the most remarkable debuts in Irish Olympic history.