The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Let the Games begin!
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Scottish shooter Seonaid McIntosh could win Great Britain’s first medal of the Tokyo Olympics today and elevate her family’s impressive sporting dynasty to rarefied new heights.
If the 25-year-old was seeking inspiration, she doesn’t have to look far.
Her mother Shirley and sister Jennifer won nine Commonwealth Games shooting medals between them for Scotland, while her father and coach Donald represented his country more than 50 times in international events.
Edinburgh-born McIntosh, who has battled rheumatoid arthritis since the age of 17, had ambitions to reach the top, inspired by her sister competing at London 2012.
McIntosh already has an impressive collection of world, European and Commonwealth medals, and she now lines up at the Asaka Shooting Range in today’s 10 metre air rifle competition and her stronger 50m rifle three positions event next week – with sights firmly trained on podium finishes.
If she takes gold in the 10m air rifle, McIntosh will become the first British competitor since racquets player Evan Baillie Noel 113 years ago to win an opening Olympic medal event.
Willie McAulay has been secretary of Alloa and District Rifle Club, where the McIntosh family are members, for 33 years, and watched her become one of British shooting’s star attractions.
“I am sure that Seonaid will be on the podium at Tokyo,” he told the PA news agency.
“If she was to win Team GB’s first medal in Tokyo it would be an amazing achievement, and she certainly has the ability and confidence to do so.
“Her parents became members of the club around the late 1980s, and later on, I can remember that Seonaid would come along to club sessions with her parents and sister, but did not seem to be interested in target shooting – she was usually sat reading or doing her homework.
“She certainly had a tough act to follow with her mother winning medals in Commonwealth Games and Donald being one of the top shooters on the European target shooting scene.
“But Seonaid seemed to take everything in her stride. Donald saw the potential in her, and a very strict training programme was introduced. As club coach, I sat in on some of these training sessions and used some of his coaching techniques with the junior club members.
“Seonaid is a great ambassador for the club, with our junior members putting in a lot of hard work to try to achieve similar prestige, even if it is at local and county level.
“The club has a scrapbook on Seonaid’s and other members’ achievements, and Donald has given the club memorabilia from numerous competitions that Seonaid has attended.
“Fingers-crossed that we find ourselves with something from Tokyo.”
McIntosh’s Olympics debut now awaits, having already established herself as the most successful British rifle-shooter in history, with world championship and World Cup triumphs during the last three years.
■ Tom Pidcock stands at the forefront of British Cycling’s bid to diversify at the Tokyo Olympics.
With the dominance Great Britain have enjoyed in the velodrome since Beijing under increasing threat, there has been a greater emphasis placed on BMX – expanded at this Games with the introduction of freestyle events – and mountain biking, where Pidcock and Evie Richards offer medal potential.
Cyclocross, in which Pidcock and Richards have won world titles at junior and under-23 level, may not be an Olympic sport – not yet, at least – but its growth at home in the wake of their successes shows what could happen if either of them finish on the podium in Izu next week.
“For sure I think in the past cyclocross has grown quite a lot in popularity, and that’s partly down to me as well as Ben Tulett and also Evie,” Pidcock said.
“If either me or Evie come away with a medal in this Olympics, I think we are going to start a trend in mountain biking. There is a lot of potential.”