Olympic heroes scoop top award
Stars honoured for making country proud
The Scots who competed for Great Britain at the Olympic and Paralympic Games have been rewarded for their fantastic displays in Rio by winning the Editor’s Choice Award at the Sunday Mail and sportscotland Scottish Sports Awards.
And West Lothian- based athletes more than played their part in what was a truly memorable few weeks for Scottish sports.
West Lothian Triathlon member Alison Patrick squeezed every ounce of energy out of her performance to grab a silver medal in her PT5 Para-triathlon debut, while Robyn Love, who started her career in Armadale with the Lothian Phoenix, was part of the GB’s wheelchair basketball team that achieved their best-ever finish of fourth place.
Livingston footballer David Porcher also had a Paralympics debut to remember by scoring GB’s first goal in the seven-a- side competition in a 2-1 loss to Brazil.
He would help the team to fifth place, beating their previous best of seventh at the 2012 Games.
Uphall archer Nathan Macqueen completed the local quartet in the Paralympics by reaching the last-16 in the individual men’s compound event.
Despite falling short in his hopes for a medal, he called the experience of representing Great Britain on the highest of stages an “awesome” experience.
Three weeks prior to the start of the Paralympic Games, two of West Lothian’s top athletes competed in the Olympics in Brazil.
Swimmer Craig Benson, who cut his teeth in the Livingston and District Dolphins’ Learn to Swim Programme, reached the semi-finals in his second Olympic Games, with Linlithgow ace Colin Fleming participating in the tennis events - also marking his second time competing at the Games.
In total, 28 Scots made the podium in Rio with 13 medals won at the Olympics including four golds, and 17 medals won at the Paralympics including five golds.
Me l Young, Cha i r o f sportscotland, the national agency for sport, said: “The 10th Sunday Mail and sportscotland Scottish Sports Awards recognised the exceptional achievements of 2016 and reinforced the message that there are people right across the country fully committed to the task of building of a world class sporting system for everyone in Scotland Scotland.
“The great thing about the Scottish Sports Awards is the way it brings together the household names who dominate media coverage of professional sport in our country and those less heralded individuals who underpin sport in our ourschools schools, clubs clubsandcommunityand community sport hubs.
“I congratulate our exceptional winners and finalists and applaud all of those who were nominated for the various awards for their valuable contribution to Scottish sport.”