Although over the years from 1930 several sportsmen and women from Anniesland have represented Scotland at the Friendly Games
With the arrival of Rugby Sevens this is the first time that Hawks join this roll of honour
Well done good luck to Mikey and Colin


THE HERALD WRITES
‘Time for new heroes to arise’ . . . Scotland’s Commonwealth Games team gives 191 athletes chance to seize history

Doug Gillon

19 Aug 2010
THE Wallace monument was little more than a javelin throw away, towering over Stirling University campus as Scotland’s 191-strong Commonwealth Games team for Delhi was unveiled yesterday.

And then came the stirring words: “It’s time for new heroes to arise.”

The chef de mission of the squad, Jon Doig, had put his finger on the pulse of the nation. The iconic talisman of quadruple Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy may be denied to his country by the need to qualify for the 2012 Olympics, but Doig remains bullish: “It’s a chance for others to make their name, and become the poster athletes of 2014 in Glasgow. Just remember: four years ago another multiple Olympic and world champion, Ian Thorpe, was Australia’s poster boy for Melbourne. But he got ill, did not swim, and Scotland’s David Carry seized his chance and won two gold medals.”

The 2010 team, which has major commercial backers in the Clydesdale Bank and Emirates airline, is substantial: 25 more than in Melbourne four years ago, and only two short of the last home Games, in Manchester in 2002. Scotland will be represented in 16 of the 17 sports on the programme, netball having failed to qualify.

The support team of 91 which will travel includes six doctors and 10 physiotherapists.

Commonwealth Games Scotland chairman Mike Cavanagh, a former wrestler, conceded that the cycling and gymnastic events which clash with Delhi where competition starts on October 4 “will undoubtedly affect our medal potential”. But he was unapologetic about having set high qualifying performance levels. “It’s the only way to drive up standards,” he said.

Doig set a modest medal target of between 18 and 25, against 29 in Melbourne where Scotland finished sixth on the table (11 gold, 7 silver, 11 bronze). The team contains 18 Commonwealth Games medallists who boast 30 medals. These include double title-winners Carry and Caitlin McClatchey, and newly-crowned European champion and world No.1 Hannah Miley.

Aquatics has the largest squad, 24 including divers, synchro and para sport. There are 19 swimmers, same as track and field athletes. Athletics numbers were swelled by the welcome addition of two athletes to allow a women’s 4 x 400m relay squad to travel, and the concession of defending 110 metres hurdles silver medallist Chris Baillie (only male athletics finalist four years ago) and decathlete Roger Skedd, both of whom had only one qualifying mark instead of the prescribed two.

The athletics squad shows a change from tradition, with a significant field event presence, including Mark Dry and Andy Frost, currently third and fourth in the Commonwealth rankings.

Eilidh Child, fresh from the European 400m hurdles final, Lee McConnell (400m), a medallist in the past two Games, and Claire Gibson (800m) were sufficient to justify the addition of Gemma Nicol and Kath Evans to complete the 4 x 400m relay squad.

Swimming aspirations are more muted than four years ago when the squad won 12 medals, six gold. “Five or six medals this time is the target,” said performance director Ally Whike last night. “We won five medals in 2002, and 3.4 is the average. So that puts things in perspective.”

In Hoy’s absence, Ross Edgar, who won Olympic keirin silver behind him in Beijing, will ride the sprints, and heads a track team rich in potential. Some may feel unease at the presence in the road squad of convicted doper David Millar, the one-time world road champion and Tour de France stage winner.

The 12-strong lawn bowls squad includes Paul Foster, pairs gold medallist four years ago, who plays singles this time; 1998 gold medallist and former world champion Margaret Letham; two of the 2008 world triple champions (David Peacock and Wayne Hogg); and the legendary Willie Wood, a four-times medallist making a record eighth appearance at 72, oldest member of the team.

The talent transfer programme is paying off with two former Games judo medallists, identical twins Donna and Fiona Robertson, reappearing at the age of 41 in wrestling in which women make their debut. And in diving, the Galashan twins, Carol and Helen, compete in synchro, having formerly contested the Games as gymnasts.

There are 31 competitors who have made the transition from Commonwealth Youth Games, and this pathway is being developed, with the Achieve 2014 programme under the guidance of former world and Commonwealth judo champion Graeme Randall. It will bankroll 30 athletes, 16 coaches, and 10 mentors in Delhi. Aspiring team members will spend five days there.

There was the inevitable minor embarrassment: a Team Scotland poster bearing the legend “17 sports – one team”. Well, of course, netball did not make it. But the poster boy in this instance looked suspiciously like Andy Murray, who won’t play, though his brother Jamie does, as will Elena Baltacha. The irony of Jamie beating Andy to a Commonwealth medal, as well as a Wimbledon title, won’t be lost on Games aficionados.

This article was originally posted on 19-Aug-2010, 06:48 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 19-Aug-2010, 06:51.