David Cummins competed in the men’s 200 metres butterfly at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, setting a new Irish record of 2:06.47 – one of two Irish swimming national records set at Moscow, both achieved despite a difficult preparation disrupted by the illness that pervaded the Games.

Cummins qualified in February 1980 as part of a thorough winter programme organised by coach Derry O’Rourke that included training weekends, a Canary Islands training week and international competition in Amersfoort, Bremen, Paris, Harrow and Hendon. His Irish record in the butterfly was a personal highlight in an otherwise difficult swimming programme for Ireland at those Games.