Shamed Wallace will seize second chance
SWIMMING star Dan Wallace has admitted he considered quitting the sport after his drinkdriving shame.
But the Glasgow 2014 gold medallist said a determination to prove his value to Team Scotland made him come straight back after his three-month suspension.
Now he is determined to make the most of his second chance — by defending his Commonwealth 400m individual medley title in the Gold Cost.
Wallace was banned from the Scottish and British swim programmes for three months following his conviction earlier this year.
His suspension now served, the 24-year-old confessed: ‘There were times where I could have hung up the goggles — and it would have made everything a lot easier.
‘I could have forgotten about it. I’ve had a great career, let’s move on. But I wanted to prove I could come back from this. Because it’s easy to do well when you’re doing well.
‘It’s really hard to do well after, you know, having a real dip or a real bad time. ‘So, I saw it as a challenge.’ Reflecting on the conviction that saw him banned from driving for a year after he was found to be two-and-a-half times over the legal limit, Wallace said: ‘It was definitely the lowest for me and the worst thing I will be remembered for.
‘I’ve won all these medals then I had this arrest — and I could have easily said: “I’ll just walk away from the sport, I’ve done what I wanted to do”.
‘But I have said I am going to keep going and be remembered for the right reasons — and leave on a high.
‘I let my team-mates down. But they all want to see me swim well.
‘I’m still learning and growing as an athlete and a person. Towards the end of my career now, I’m thinking about what kind of person I want to be after the sport.’
Wallace shot to fame with his cry of ‘Freedom!’ on striking gold in Glasgow.
But the Olympian, who won a silver medal as part of the Team GB 4x200 relay squad, insists he never set himself up as some paragon of virtue.
The Scot, who was also arrested for urinating on a police car while a student in Florida in 2014, said: ‘My public persona has grown immensely in the past four years. But, for me, I’m not the perfect athlete, I’m not the perfect role model.
‘It was never my intention to be that. It was just to be as good a swimmer as I can — and to be myself.
‘If someone looks up to me, that’s great. But I’m not begging everyone to look up to me, not advising everyone to look up to me.
‘There are some great things I’ve done — and do daily — that people can learn from. But I’m always going to be different, always going to be myself.
‘There is definitely a lot of fun to have in the sport. I make the most of that.
‘It’s a gruelling process, the training environment, the pressure.
‘So it’s important to have a laugh, a bit of fun, make sure everyone is relaxed — and do it with a smile on your face.
‘I do love to blow off steam at the weekend. For me, swimming is very stressful and the way I release myself from that is to have a bit of fun and not be a boring swimmer.
‘Swimmers are boring, athletes are quite boring and I don’t want to be a boring athlete, I want to be myself.
‘It’s why I’ve been so successful but also why I’ve had my downfalls.
‘It’s about getting balance now, having fun without hurting yourself or anybody else around you.’