Former Irish diving champion Eddie Heron recalls his sporting career and international success.
Eddie Heron won the Tailteann Games in 1928 and 1932, the British Open title in 1932, and 35 Irish diving championships. He represented Ireland at the 1948 Olympic Games. He also played football with Dublin.
The greatest Irish diver ever.
Despite aches and pains now, he still takes the odd dive at Blackrock.
Eddie Heron was born in Dublin in 1910. His father, Michael, was a gymnast and introduced him to gymnastics at an early age. This stood to him when it came to diving.
He recalls entering the 1921 Kingstown Regatta at the age of ten. At the time, he could not swim but still managed to win the diving contest.
I had no fear of the water. I'm just damned if I could swim.
Photographs from an album show demonstrations of various dives including a swallow dive, a two and a half forward somersault, a swan dive, and a reverse somersault from O'Connell Bridge in Dublin.
Eddie Heron had been diving for about ten years when he saw a springboard for the first time at a London gala in 1931. American world champion diver Pete Desjardins gave him ten minutes of instruction on the springboard and Eddie Heron took off from there. A year later, he made the move to America.
'Talk of Times Past' broadcast on 4 August 1983. The presenter is Brendan O'Reilly.
'Talk of Times Past' presents conversations with the great veterans of sport in Ireland who have reached the grand old age of seventy.
