Gary O'Toole is a retired Irish Olympic

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. He represented Ireland at the

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and

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Games. While studying at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

, O'Toole won a 200 m breaststroke silver medal at the 1989 European

Long Course An Olympic-size swimming pool is a swimming pool which conforms to the regulations for length, breadth, and depth made by World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for swimming at the Summer Olympics and the swimming events at the World Aquatics Champion ...

Championships in Bonn. He also won a gold medal at the

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in 1991 when representing University College Dublin and UCD. He helped to break 5 National relay records, including Short Course and Long Course. As a prominent member of the Irish Amateur Swimming Association, O'Toole had been approached to make representations on behalf of the victims of the George Gibney scandal. Gibney, who coached O'Toole until he became aware of these allegations, criticised O'Toole publicly during the 1992 Olympics. His complaints were ignored and led to a major investigation into the incidents and ultimately to the disbandment of the IASA and the creation of Swim Ireland. Since his retirement from professional swimming, O'Toole has been a practising

Orthopedic surgeon Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (American and British English spelling differences, alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgic ...

with a specialist interest in adult arthritis (both hip and knee) and knee sports injuries. He also has a keen interest in musculoskeletal cancer (bone and soft tissue tumours). He continued to provide expert analysis for

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's Olympic swimming coverage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otoole, Gary 1968 births Living people Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers for Ireland Irish orthopaedic surgeons Alumni of University College Dublin Sportspeople from Bray, County Wicklow European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Irish male breaststroke swimmers Summer World University Games medalists in swimming FISU World University Games gold medalists for Ireland Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade People educated at Presentation College, Bray Medical doctors from County Wicklow 20th-century Irish sportsmen