OAP saves athletics legend af ter his heart stops in pool
A GRANDFATHER saved Scottish athletics legend Lachie Stewart’s life by pulling him from the bottom of a swimming pool after his heart stopped.
Benjamin Scullion, 78, dived down to rescue the unconscious Commonwealth gold medal winner from the water.
The 75-year-old, who shot to fame when he won the 10,000 metres at the 1970 Games in Edinburgh, fell ill at Dumbarton Meadow Centre on July 2.
But eagle-eyed Mr Scullion, who regularly exchanges pleasantries with Mr Stewart while swimming lengths there, spotted him at the bottom of the pool and plunged down to bring him to the surface.
Lifeguards then took over and performed CPR and used a defibrillator to bring Mr Stewart round.
He was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, where he is being treated.
Retired shipyard boilermaker Mr Scullion told the BBC: ‘I’ve known Lachie for a while, mostly from the baths. We’d have a chat when we met at the pool.
‘I was doing my usual number of lengths and remember he was at the other end of the pool. I was chatting to someone and I don’t know what happened, but he just disappeared.’
After swimming to the other end, Mr Scullion realised there was something wrong. He said: ‘I was fixing my goggles, then I put my head under the water and I saw him, lying at the bottom of the pool.
‘I went under and he was a dead weight. I had to pull his hair to grab him and get him to the surface and to the side of the pool.’
Lachie’s son Glen, 47, from nearby Alexandria, said his father was awaiting a heart bypass but was hoping to make a full recovery.
He told the BBC: ‘He’ll be in hospital for a couple of weeks to have a bypass and a valve replacement. He’s aware of what happened and what the people did at the Meadow Centre. I think when he gets out he’ll be going to give his thank-yous.’
Mr Scullion wished his fellow swimmer a speedy recovery.
He added: ‘It was daunting to see that. To think he was under for all that time it took me to swim a length. I hope he comes back to the pool when he is recovered and I hope the scare doesn’t put him off.’
A spokesman for West Dunbartonshire Council said: ‘Lifeguards, assisted by a swimmer, removed a man from the water before giving him CPR and using the onsite defibrillator.
‘Staff train regularly for this type of incident and we are proud of their actions, along with the swimmer’s contribution, which helped save this man’s life.’
Mr Stewart was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Judges cited his ‘gutsy victory’ in the 1970 Commonwealth Games, where he was cheered to victory by a ‘passionate home crowd’.
The hall’s of fame entry states: ‘Stewart outsprinted the multiple world record holder and overwhelming favourite, Australian Ron Clarke, to win gold on the first day of the Games.’
Mr Stewart went on to compete in the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
‘I saw him lying at the bottom’