Christchurch, New Zealand 1974
Following the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the X Games at Christchurch was the first multi-sport event to place the safety of participants and spectators as its uppermost requirement. Security guards surrounded the athlete’s village and there was an exceptionally high-profile police presence. Even so, Christchurch enchanted the watching world as a city of beautiful churches and gardens.
Only 22 countries succeeded in winning medals from the total haul of 374 medals on offer, but first time winners included Western Samoa, Lesotho and Swaziland.
Nine sports were featured in these Games with 1,276 athletes taking part in:
- Aquatics (diving & swimming)
- Athletics
- Badminton
- Boxing
- Cycling
- Lawn Bowls
- Shooting
- Weightlifting
- Wrestling
The middle of a Scottish winter was not the ideal time to prepare for an antipodean mid-summer trip and so it proved in the outdoor sports at any rate. But there was an exception - the bowlers found the browns (there wasn't a blade of green grass in sight) so much to their liking that all returned with medals. John Christie and Alex McIntosh struck gold in the Pairs, Willie Wood captured the Singles bronze, behind the legendary David Bryant, and Morgan Moffat, John Marshall, Bill Scott and John McRae were also third in the Fours.
A silver and two bronzes was the best the boxers could muster but that was better than the luckless athletes whose best was the silver won by Mrs "Bud" Payne in the discus.
Shooting provided two medals with the name of future world champion Alister Allan first appearing in the honours for smallbore rifle.
An even bigger name saved Scotland's pride, and gave the team a boost it scarcely deserved, in the pool. David Wilkie captured two golds and a silver, winning the 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley as well as finishing second in the 100m breaststroke.