FORMER Olympic swimming coach George Gibney will appear in court in the US next week after he was arrested by US Marshals.
The hearing at the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida, in Orlando, will offer the pensioner the chance to either accept or contest plans by Gardai to extradite him.
An international arrest warrant was issued after the Director of Public Prosecutions moved to charge him with 78 counts of alleged indecent assault and one count of alleged attempted rape.
The allegations were made to Gardai by four women between 2020 and 2022.
Gardai later submitted a file to the DPP who ruled last year the ex-coach, who’s now in his 70s, should be charged with the offences.
The complaints were made after a BBC Sounds and Second Captains Podcast – entitled ‘Where is George Gibney’ – was aired in 2020.
It’s understood Gibney plans to fight the extradition.
Gardai had been working closely with the US authorities before Gibney’s arrest on Tuesday.
Gibney was remanded in custody by a judge in Orlando and is due back in court next Friday week.
A former member of Gibney’s old swimming club in Dublin welcomed the arrest, adding: “It’s hard to believe that he has been arrested after 30 years since he left Ireland.
“Former members of the club will be keeping a close eye on the developments.
“Everyone is adamant that he will be fighting the extradition.”
PREVIOUS ARREST
Gibney has been arrested 32 years after he was charged with 27 counts of indecency against young swimmers.
But the case was later withdrawn after he initiated a judicial review over the time it took the allegations to come to court.
He spent some time in Scotland after his legal win before moving to the US in 1995.
