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 one, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Several new awards have been ...

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 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 is a combination of four different swimming styles—backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle—into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as a medley relay. Individual m ...

, 5 minutes 8.8 seconds, a record that would stand for just over a year until broken by swimmer American George Harrison 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 (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 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 it ...

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 19538 and 1959.

Personal life

Black attended

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

, 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 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