First Minister John Swinney has hailed the “amazing achievements” of Scottish athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics, saying they had “done themselves and their country proud”.
Speaking ahead of the Games’ closing ceremony last night, Mr Swinney said the Scottish members of Team GB had been “outstanding” as athletes and ambassadors for their sports, and that they were an inspiration to young people.
He gave a special mention to swimmer Duncan Scott, whose two medals at this year’s Games saw him become Scotland’s most decorated Olympian.
He also said the games would be remembered for being “the final curtain” on the career of tennis star Andy Murray.
READ MORE: 2024 Paris Olympic Games comes to glittering close
Mr Swinney said: “Competing on the world stage amongst some of the best sporting talent on the planet is a tremendous honour, and I know the whole nation is with me in congratulating our Scottish athletes who have made an enormous contribution to Team GB’s success at these Games.
“These athletes have all been outstanding in their performances and as ambassadors for their sport, and will inspire many young people to become more active in their lives.
(Image: PA) Andy Murray played his last professional tennis match at the Paris Olympics.
“These games have seen amazing achievements, including Duncan Scott becoming Scotland’s most decorated Olympian, and will be remembered for being the final curtain on the remarkable career of Scotland’s greatest ever sportsman, Andy Murray.
“All of our athletes have excelled themselves and done themselves and their country proud.
“I hope they are able to celebrate with their friends, family and the public in the coming days.”
READ MORE: Andy Murray's tennis career is finally over. So, what's next?
Scottish athletes competing either individually or in team events secured 13 medals out of a Team GB total of 65, including three gold medals, four silver and six bronze.
Several Scots also broke records in their events, with new British records set by Josh Kerr in the 1500m and Jack Carlin in the cycling team sprint, while Keanna MacInnes set a new Scottish record in the 100m butterfly.
(Image: PA)
Almost two thirds of the Scottish athletes selected for Team GB were female, including long-distance runner Eilish McColgan, who became the first Scottish four-time track and field Olympian reaching the 10,000m women's final with fellow Scot Megan Keith, pictured above after completing the race.
Forbes Dunlop, chief executive of national sport agency sportscotland, said Scottish athletes had “once again delivered on the biggest stage”.
“There have been consistently strong performances from Scottish athletes at the highest level for a number of years now across a range of sports, demonstrating that Scotland’s approach to developing a pathway to performance sport is paying off.
“That success is down to years of hard work and commitment from the athletes, their coaches and their wider support teams including Scottish Governing Bodies of Sport and the sportscotland institute of sport.
“Ensuring Scotland’s athletes are ready to compete with the best is a real team effort and we are proud to play our part in that.”
Gold medals in either individual or team events were won by Duncan Scott (swimming), Scott Brash (equestrian) and Sholto Carnegie (rowing).
Silver medals in individual or team events were won by Duncan Scott (swimming), Jack Carlin (cycling), Josh Kerr (running) and Neah Evans (cycling).
Meanwhile bronze medals were secured by Beth Potter (triathlon, two), Rowan McKellar (rowing), Nicole Yeargin (swimming, two) and Jack Carlin (cycling).
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel