The young woman, who is now 33, told the Sunday Tribune how the alleged child molester raped her and held her captive in a hotel bedroom when she was 17 years old.

"He jumped on me and raped me there on the bed. He said if I told anybody, he would sue my family and nobody would believe me because he was George Gibney and he would bankrupt my family.

Then he left, " she recalled.

Last week, the Sunday Tribune tracked Gibney to his new home in Orange City, Florida, which he bought earlier this year. He previously lived in California and Colorado after entering the United States 10 years ago. He avoided facing seven charges of alleged rapes in 1994 when the Irish Supreme Court ruled they were so old that he could not adequately defend himself.

Before the attack on her in 1991, the promising young swimmer was regarded as a name to watch out for in the future. She travelled to Tampa, Florida with Trojans swimming club to prepare for the national championships in Belfast, where swimmers would be selected for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

"I was so driven. All I wanted to do was go to the Olympics at any cost. That was my dream, " she said. She is now pursuing a civil action for damages against the Irish Amateur Swimming Association, the Olympic Council of Ireland and Gibney.

She has suffered from anorexia and has scars from years of self-mutilation. She has tried to kill herself on a number of occasions. "I am sorry to say this, " her mother told the Sunday Tribune, "but sometimes she's like the living dead."