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 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 18–26 July 1958. Thirty-five nations sent a total of 1,130 athletes and 228 officials to the Cardiff Games ...

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, 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 and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

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

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

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 ( lv, Jānis 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, a ...

(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 proudly display his

Scottish identity Scottish national identity is a term referring to the sense of national identity, as embodied in the shared and characteristic culture, languages and traditions, of the Scottish people. Although the various dialects of Gaelic, the Scots langu ...

in good humour by wearing a

MacGregor MacGregor or Macgregor may refer to: People * MacGregor (surname) * MacGregor (filmmaker), a Spanish commercial cinematographer and film director * Clan Gregor, a Scottish clan * Macgregor baronets, related individuals including a British Army Br ...

tartan Tartan ( gd, breacan ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Sc ...

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

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. In 2002 he became one of the first fifty Scottish men and women inducted into the

Scottish Sports Hall of Fame The Scottish Sports Hall of Fame is the national sports hall of fame of Scotland, set up in 2002. It is a joint project organised by sportscotland, the national governmental body for Scottish sport, and National Museums Scotland. It is also funded ...

. 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 19538 and 1959.

Personal life

Black attended Aberdeen University, 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. 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 Independent school (UK) for day pupils in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery through to S6. History Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, made his fortune in 18th century ...

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

References

{{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 of Great Britain People educated at Robert Gordon's College Heads of schools in Scotland Scottish schoolteachers Scottish male swimmers Swimmers at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Heads of schools in Hong Kong Heads of schools in Bahrain Medallists at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Swimming career

Personal life

See also

References