Ian MacIntosh Black (born 27 June 1941) is a Scottish former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in international competition, including the Olympics and European championships, and Scotland in the Commonwealth Games, during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Swimming career

Black was

BBC Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just a single award of the same name. Several new awards have been introduced, and cu ...

in 1958 at the age of only 17, and is still to date the youngest winner of the award. Ian Black – swimming record breaker 1958
", BBC Scotland (17 October 2014). Retrieved 24 May 2015. He earned the BBC honour by winning three gold medals in the 400- and 1500-metre freestyle events, as well as the 200-metre butterfly, at the 1958 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Black an original Scottish sporting icon
", ''The Scotsman'' (12 December 2008). Retrieved 24 May 2015.Scottish Sports Hall of Fame, Inductees

. Retrieved 24 May 2015. In the same year, he also won a gold and two silver medals for Scotland at the

1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (Welsh: ''Gemau Ymerodraeth Prydain a'r Gymanwlad'' 1958) were held in Cardiff, Wales, from 18 to 26 July 1958. It was the sixth edition of what would come to be known as the Commonwealth Games, the ...

in Cardiff, Wales; gold in the 220-yard butterfly, silver in the 440-yard freestyle, and silver in the 4×220-yard freestyle relay.GBRathletics.com, Commonwealth Games Medallists
Swimming & Diving (Men)
. Retrieved 24 May 2015. In 1959 he set a new world record in the 400-metre

individual medley Medley swimming is a combination of four different swimming strokes ( freestyle (usually front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly) into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as ...

, 5 minutes 8.8 seconds, a record that would stand for just over a year until broken by swimmer American

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

in 1960. Black qualified to represent Great Britain in three events at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

in Rome.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes
Ian Black
. Retrieved 24 May 2015. In the event final of the men's 400-metre freestyle he was placed fourth, posting the same time as Australian

John Konrads John Konrads (; 21 May 1942 – 25 April 2021) was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won the 1500 m freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In his career, he set 26 individual world records, and after his swimmi ...

(4:21.8), but the judges awarded the bronze medal to Konrads. He was also a member of the British teams in the 4x200-metre freestyle relay and 4x100-metre medley relay events, placing fourth and seventh in the finals, respectively. When competing for Great Britain, he would wear a MacGregor

tartan Tartan or plaid ( ) is a patterned cloth consisting of crossing horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours, forming repeating symmetrical patterns known as ''setts''. Originating in woven wool, tartan is most strongly associated wi ...

dressing gown poolside. As well as excelling in the water, he was also a formidable

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. In 2002 he became one of the first fifty Scottish men and women inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. He won the 1958 and 1959 ASA National Championship 110 yards freestyle titles, the 1958 and 1959 ASA National Championship 220 yards freestyle titles, the 1958 and 1959 ASA National Championship 440 yards freestyle titles and the 220 yards butterfly title in 1958 and 1959.

Personal life

Black attended

Aberdeen University The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Al ...

, where he was awarded a Master of Arts and a Certificate in Education. In the late 1970s he became head teacher of Seafield Primary School in

Elgin Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario * Elgin, Manit ...

. He taught in Canada and he became headmaster of St Christopher's prep school in Bahrain. In the early 1980s he was headmaster of Sek Kong Primary School in Hong Kong, before moving to Aberlour House School 1987–89. He later returned to his former school,

Robert Gordon's College Robert Gordon's College is a co-educational private school for day pupils in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery through to S6. History Background Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, made his fortune in 18th cent ...

in Aberdeen, as headmaster of the Junior School, and retired in 2004.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Ian 1941 births Living people Sportspeople from Inverness Alumni of the University of Aberdeen BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Scotland Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Scotland European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming World record setters in swimming Olympic swimmers for Great Britain People educated at Robert Gordon's College Heads of schools in Scotland Scottish schoolteachers Scottish male freestyle swimmers British male freestyle swimmers Swimmers at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists in swimming Heads of schools in Hong Kong Heads of schools in Bahrain Medallists at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Scottish male butterfly swimmers British male butterfly swimmers Scottish male medley swimmers British male medley swimmers

Swimming career

Personal life

See also

References

External links