Peter Heatly

Born in Leith on Coburg Street,[3] Heatly was educated at Leith Academy and began his diving career with Portobello Amateur Swimming Club (PASC).[4] He was inspired to become a diver after watching Pete Desjardins dive at Port Seton. Heatly was eleven years old, and Desjardins asked to see him dive and gave him tips.[3]

By the age of thirteen Heatly had become the East of Scotland Champion (1937),[1] and he held this title until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.[4] The outbreak of war put things on hold; however, Heatly became a record holder in the 440-yards and 880-yards during this time.[3] Heatly studied engineering at the University of Edinburgh[4] and continued to train with PASC.[5]

Heatly wanted to enlist; however, as he was doing well with his studies at University, he was advised to join the Officers' Training Corps instead.[3] When he graduated from University, he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers, but before he could be posted, the war ended.[3] Healty became an apprentice at Rosyth's Naval Dockyard; however, he kept up his training at the sports facilities nearby[4] and became a Scottish Freestyle Champion in 1946,[5] a title he kept until 1958.[3]

Heatly married Jean Hermiston in 1948;[4] he ran the family business of heating and ventilation, and a building and construction company while competing internationally and raising his four children.[3]

At the 1948 Olympics, Heatly placed fifth in the platform and 13th in the springboard.[1] At the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand, he won a gold medal in the platform and a silver in the springboard.[3] Heatly had been unable to practise for most of the five-week journey by ship to Auckland, except for one training session which took place in a U.S. base in Panama.[6]

At the 1952 Olympics, Heatly placed 12th in the platform and 16th in the springboard.[1] At the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada, he won a gold in the springboard and a bronze in the platform.[5] The same year he won a bronze in the platform at the European championships.[7]

At the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, Heatley was appointed as captain and flagbearer for the Scotland Team.[8][9] He won a gold medal in the platform,[2] and retired from competitions after that.[10]

Heatly became the Chairman of Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland (now Commonwealth Games Scotland), in 1967–1971,[5] Chairman of the Scottish Sports Council, (now sportscotland), in 1975–87, and Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation, in 1982–90.[7] Heatly has a unique connection with the Commonwealth Games as he has consecutively attended seventeen games, from 1950 to 2014, in an official capacity as a competitor, organiser, Chairman of the Federation, as the Life Vice President of the Federation,[7] team manager and Chef de Mission.[8]

Healty was also the President of Scottish Swimming on two separate occasions, Chairman of the British Swimming Federation, was a Councillor for the City of Edinburgh and was an integral part of the planning of the Royal Commonwealth Pool.[7] He also served in many roles on both the European (LEN) and World (FINA) Technical Diving Committees from 1966 to 1988.[7][11]

Heatly was awarded a CBE in 1971 and was knighted in 1990, before being inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, the Scottish Swimming Hall of Fame in 2010[2] and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2016.[11][12] He was made Deputy Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh in 1984, and held honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh (1992) and St Margaret's College (1994).[3][13]

Heatly had four children by his first wife Jean, who was also known as Bertha; she died in 1979.[3] He re-married Mae Cochrane; she was also a widower with four children of her own.[14] Together Peter and Mae had twenty grandchildren; Mae died in 2003.[4]

Heatly was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the 1980s but lived with the disease for nearly thirty years before he died.[3] His grandson James Heatly won a bronze medal in the 1 m springboard at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.[15]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peter Heatly.

• biography at the British Olympic Committee
• biography at the Gazetteer for Scotland
• biography at the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame
• Peter Heatly's obituary
• Peter Heatly Collection is a part of the Commonwealth Games Scotland Collection at the University of Stirling Archives