Julie Parkes recalls 'fantastic experience' competing at the Commonwealth Games

In 1984, Parkes then became the first female swimmer from Northern Ireland to compete at the Olympic Games taking part in the 100m and 200m butterfly in Los Angeles.

Parkes was always destined for a sporting career in the pool as she followed in the footsteps of her parents.

“My mum (Elizabeth) and dad (Fred) were both Irish international swimmers and at the age of three we were in Spain and they taught me how to swim,” reminisced Parkes.

“From then on I did my first race at five and I went across the pool in the under sevens race at the Grove Pool and I got third in that race and that was it, that was me hooked.

“Literally my life was swimming from the age of five onwards and I joined the Bangor Swimming Club when I was about seven.

“I trained in Bangor two or three times a week and then trained the other times in Campbell College where my father was a teacher in the school.”

Parkes had just become a teenager when she was selected for her first Commonwealth Games in 1978 and was also able to cheer on other members of Team NI away from the pool.

She reflected: “I couldn’t believe I was selected at that age...they had to employ a chaperone because I was so young, I think I’m the youngest person to go to the games at 13.

“I went for the backstroke and there was a relay, four girls and we actually finished seventh in the final.

“It was daunting but I was loving it because I love swimming, I loved the experience of going there. We went on trips to the Rockies, we did other things than swimming, we actually got to see a bit of the place as well.

“I actually watched Barry McGuigan fight because I had a little shine at the time and I sat beside him on the plane on the way home.

“He was 17 at the time and I went and watched his fight. It was amazing because he was very successful and the star of the games.

“Memories in the pool were obviously getting to the final of the relay and swimming the first leg and meeting all the stars that you had only heard off or read about and then we got trips to the Rockies and trips to different places.”

Four years later, Parkes was back in the pool for Team NI at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games.

“It was a fantastic experience, and it was in Australia, so it was even better that it was somewhere really nice,” she continued.

“I was able to enjoy it an awful lot better because I was older and I knew what to expect as well.

“Walking into the stadium with that massive crowd you know, your nerves are literally at a height and it's just you're able to sort of calm yourself a wee bit better because you've experienced it before.

“I changed from a back stroker to a butterflyer at that stage and so I did butterfly and IM (individual medley) but my main event was butterfly, and I was able to sort of gear myself an awful lot better for the Games.”

In 1984 Parkes made the Ireland squad for the Los Angeles Olympics and it’s an experience she still treasures to this day.

She still also has fond memories of the LA Coliseum.

She stated: “It was just unbelievable...it was in LA so it was another really nice place to go to.

"We were in a village with the British team as well. I was swimming for Ireland obviously and we had a great experience there.

“Like boxing, swimming is an all-Ireland sport, now you can choose Ireland or GB but then you swim for Ireland.

“John Tracy actually ran in the closing ceremony, he was running his marathon at the end, and he got a silver medal and that was amazing to experience that as well.

“The Coliseum was just mind-blowing with the crowds as you walked into the ceremony.

"That was the one thing I could say that whenever you get selected to go I'd say to anybody, any of the young ones now that experience of walking into the Coliseum is just unreal you'll never forget it.

“I've been all over Europe and Australia...I spent a year before the Olympics in America. I went and swam for Tennessee University and that's where I did my qualifying time for the Olympics.

“I was there in university for a year and that was a fantastic experience to be able to do that. I should have stayed for the four years but I came back here to study and do my PE degree here but now they're all staying and it's a great experience for them.”

Team NI won its first ever Commonwealth Games medals in the pool in Birmingham with Bethany Firth getting a gold, Daniel Wiffen silver and Barry McClements a bronze.

“I just thought that was unbelievable for Northern Ireland swimmers to get medals,” Parkes smiled.

"I was actually at Birmingham and I watched one of them swimming so it was brilliant to be able to see that, but I mean to think that even for Irish people to get medals as well it's brilliant, Daniel getting his gold at the Olympics and also Jack McMillan as well.”

Parkes recently attended with a few of her former colleagues Team NI’s Causeway Club, a new initiative aimed at reuniting anyone that has been to a Commonwealth Games with Northern Ireland.

She concluded: “It's fantastic...it's through Facebook that I actually heard about this event and just to reconnect with people you haven't seen for 30, 40 years is a brilliant idea to see everybody and meet and reconnect.”