Scotland's Highlights
After a spectacular Opening Ceremony on the Friday, competition commenced and we didn’t have to long to wait before cyclist Chris Hoy beat the Olympic champion in the kilo time trial to win Scotland’s first ever Cycling gold.
Athletics - A magical hour on the Monday evening also saw track and field athletes Jamie Quarry and Lee McConnell win unexpected medals, Quarry in his third and last Games. This success was supported by a further Cycling bronze in the Olympic Sprint event to give them their best ever Games results. Their were also near misses in Athletics by 800m runner Susan Scott who broke a 30 year Scottish record , the Women’s 4x400m Relay and Darren Ritchie, the latter by a mere 1cm in the men’s long jump.
Fortune also deserted cyclist Caroline Alexander. Her puncture when well clear in the Women’s Mountain Bike event and later when caught just prior to the line made her the unluckiest athlete at the Games.
Judo - The sport returned for the first time since 1990 and in all, 10 judo players won medals making them Scotland’s most successful sport at the Games repeating the success of the Auckland Games. Former World Champion Graeme Randall crowned a glittering career by taking gold in the under 81kg event.
Gymnastics - Steve Frew came out of retirement to win gold on the rings in his fourth Games. His win spurred on fellow gymnast Barry Collie who took bronze in the vault on what proved to be Gymnastics’ greatest day at a Games.
Aquatics - The swimmers had their most successful meet since the heyday of David Wilkie. Sprinter Alison Sheppard was utterly dominant in her favoured 50m sprint event winning in a new Commonwealth Record and World best time for the year, to go one better than her 1998 silver and also took a bronze in the 50m butterfly to give her a full set of Games medals after four Games. Former Olympic medallist Graeme Smith couldn’t quite match the dominant Australian World and Olympic champions Thorpe and Hackett, but his return to form saw him medal in the 1500m freestyle and 400m, the latter event in a new Scottish record. An excellent overall meet for the Scots also saw backstroker Tait win silver in the 200m.
Shooting - Unseasonaly hot weather in the early styages of the Shooting competition held at Bisley near London,slowed down the Shooting medal haul before Mike Thomson and Susan Jackson (nee Bell) coolly picked up medals to add to those they had won at previous Games. They were also joined by debutants Sheena Sharp and Edith Barnes.
Badminton - The Badminton players showed the benefit of extensive exposure to international competition since the last Games, wining a hard fought bronze in the Team event before going out to England. While singles and pairs results did not quite deliver the hoped for individual medals, good results over higher ranked opposition were gained from Susan Hughes who just missed a medal and the pairing of Kirsteen McEwan and Russell Hogg.
Boxing - 1998 bronze medallist Colin McNeil led the seven debutant boxers who came away with a further two bronze medals to Andrew Young and Mark Hastie. Tough draws and strong fields saw the promise of this young team just fall short of its own high expectations.
Lawn Bowls - Athletes with Disabilities competed as full Team members for the first time and Scotland was represented in Bowls and Aquatics. Consistent play by David Heddle, John Robertson and Ivan Prior saw them reach the final against a strong Welsh triple. Watched in monsoon-like rain by First Minister Jack McConnell, the Scottish team eventually splashed their way to a historic triumph. Their success was later matched by World Champions George Sneddon and Alex Marshall who gave a master class to add the Games Pairs event to their tally.
Wrestling - The depth of the Wrestling competition saw Scotland fail to win any medals, although all wrestlers won bouts for the first time. Joseph Bianco just missed a Gold and Silver bout losing in overtime to eventually finish fifth while Dougie Thompson also lost a close bout for Bronze. Injury during the Games forced the withdrawal of Graeme English robbing him of the opportunity to better his record of Bronzes in 1986 and 1994, the last time Wrestling was in the Games.
Hockey - Scotland's women had high hopes of bettering their efforts of four years ago and in a strong competition met Olympic and World champions Australia, South Africa and Malaysia early on before going out to England in the quarter finals where unfortunately the team could not gel on the day, as a heavy international season took its toll.
Rugby 7s - The Rugby 7s team also struggled to adapt after a long season with a number of players short of sevens match practice coming straight out of a 15 aside tour of Canada. It was Canada who ended their hopes in a crunch pool game where a sole converted try separated the teams. Despite scoring the second highest points against the eventual winners NZ, this loss consigned them to the Bowl competition in which they re-gathered and went on to win the final with a fine display against Tonga.
Squash - Reaching a plate final was squash player Neil Frankland. The defection of 1998 champion Peter Nicol to England and the ineligibility of World number 4 John White, saw early high hopes disappear and despite the efforts on Martin Heath and Frankland in reaching the doubles quarterfinals, that was as far any of the four strong team got in a case of what might have been.
Weightlifting - Twins Stuart and Tommy Yule were finally reunited in Scottish colours after Tommy was forced to compete for England in 1998. He couldn’t quite match his performance in KL but did win a Bronze in the snatch, with injury then preventing Stuart from matching his efforts. The 2002 Games saw the first women’s Weightlifting competition and Kirstie Law marked the occasion with Scottish records and a highly credible fourth at her first major international competition.
Table Tennis - the sport made its first appearance at a Games and Scotland performed to their seeding in the men’s teams event with a 9th place. Although the experienced Euan Walker reached the last 16 in the singles that proved to be as far as the part-time members of the team could go based on their limited international play.
Triathlon - Triathlon was also making its Games debut and expectations were high, but an injury to Olympian Steph Forrester knocked medal chances with the other five members all recording mid-table finishes despite strong performance particularly in the men’s competition.
Overall this was regarded as was one of Scotland’s most successful Games and matched the spirit of the Games overall made by the warmth of the Mancunian welcome and in particular the unstinting efforts of 12,000 volunteers. The response to the success of the Bank of Scotland Scottish Team in capturing public imagination was such that a public parade and a First Minister reception was held on their return to allow the public and sponsors to recognise their efforts.