OUR HEROES
Brilliant Scots push themselves to the limit and show anything is possible on day of glory
THERE are days when the cynicism is just smashed out of you. Sporting occasions when all gripes about Britain’s medal-buying policies or concerns over the relevance of these Games are blown away by the brilliance, dedication, bone-headed drive and infectious enthusiasm of a committed competitor.
Yesterday, first at the Carrara Stadium and then the Optus Aquatic Centre, it was nigh-on impossible to retain any nagging suspicions about why anyone should make an emotional investment in Team Scotland.
Throw in the all-or-nothing glory we’ve come to expect from our cyclists at the velodrome and, well, it wasn’t the worst day to be a Scot in Oz.
Take a bow, Mark Dry. If your battered hip will allow you to bend.
Doff your swim caps to Duncan Scott, folks. And acknowledge the pedal power of Mark Stewart.
Revel in the glory of three great Scots rising above even their most high-achieving peers on a brilliant day, absolutely refusing to be beaten.
Not so much ignoring the odds. But viewing them as an invitation to excel.
Dry knew, when he stepped into the hammer cage for his last throw of yesterday’s final, that pushing himself hard might risk serious damage to a hip already in pieces. At the very best, he could expect instant agony and days of dull aftershocks all over his body.
YET he was willing to risk it. Eager to endure the kind of pain that would send the average man crumpling to the floor. Because there was a medal dangling tantalisingly out of grasp.
Whatever else happens on the Gold Coast between now and Sunday’s closing ceremony, this deserves to be remembered as a great moment of these Games.
And the look on the 30-year-old’s face when his bronze medal was confirmed deserves to be made into posters and plastered all over school gymnasiums, training grounds and sports venues the length and breadth of Scotland.
When you’re tired and think you can’t go on, kids, take a look at that guy. The one who hobbled into the throwing circle and pulled off something remarkable.
The next time someone tells you something is impossible, point to the picture on the wall and reply: ‘Oh, really? Tell him’.
Now, plenty would have argued that the great Chad le Clos should never have been vulnerable to Scott.
The South African has beaten Michael Phelps, for goodness’ sake. With gold medals at Olympics and World Championships, not to mention a history-making three consecutive Commonwealth Games titles in the butterfly, he wasn’t about to lose to some kid with just one individual international medal to his name.
Yet Scott believed. And pushed himself to the kinds of agonising limits that few outside of elite sport will ever understand. Then came back to do his bit for the bronze-winning relay boys.
That came just moments after Stewart had produced the ride of his life to win gold in the points race up in Brisbane. If we’re occasionally guilty of taking our track cyclists for granted, here was an antidote to such a blase attitude.
Of course, it would be a shame if the very best of the medals won yesterday — eight in total, some worth more than others — were lost amid the arithmetical process that has become a favourite pastime of armchair fans whenever a major event pops on the telly.
Counting medals is their game. Obsessively poring over the table in search of validation for whatever view they might hold about this or that nation. Sometimes even their own.
Well, the theory goes, we all pay plenty for those top-three finishes in skeleton, sailing and dressage. It only makes sense that we’d want to keep a running tally on smiling/tearful/proudly patriotic photo ops per pound spent. But the stories behind the achievements, the sacrifices in freezing pools, windswept fields, sweaty gyms and even perfectlyformed tracks, those are what really matter.
And, as much as the numbers may have been totting up nicely, Team Scotland really did need the kind of day they enjoyed here yesterday.
The swimmers simply had to get a gold, above all. Having made a rod for their own back by being so consistently successful at Games after Games, they knew silvers were seen as a slight disappointment, bronzes just bang average. Harsh but true.
Because, together with cycling, swimming has become a powerhouse producer of results for Scotland. And so we expect the earth from them.
Winning any kind of medal in athletics at the Commonwealth Games, though? Man, that is hard. There are Olympic and World Championships medallists in abundance. Plus the odd unknown Kenyan soon to break the world record twice in the space of three races.
Still, a group we’ve come to think of as the usual suspects, including but not exclusively Lynsey Sharp, Eilidh Doyle, Jake Wightman, Chris O’Hare and Eilish McColgan, all have potential to bag a medal.
Soaring above them all, quite possibly, could be Callum Hawkins on Sunday. Imagine the reaction if he were to get any medal in the marathon, an event where so many Commonwealth nations excel.
Goodness, imagine if he were to somehow win. Not likely, maybe. But not impossible.
It would take some serious dedication to remain cynical in the face of that.