Countdown - Spring 2012

7/31/2019 Countdown - Spring 2012

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Those athletes beneting from

this new initiative are:

ATHLETICS BADMINTON

Tom Holligan (17)£900

Zoey Clark (17)£1000

Kirsty Gilmour (18)£950

BOXING

Charlie Flynn (18)£800

Mark McKeown (17)£1000

Kieran Smith (18)£1000

SWIMMING CYCLING

Craig Benson (17)£1000

Emily Jones (16)£1000

Grant Ferguson(18) £850

countd wnCOMMONWEALTH GAMES SCOTLAND NEWSLETTER ISSUE 18 – SPRING 2012

This is a new source of additional

athlete support funding which is

being administered by the Scottish

Commonwealth Games Youth Trust,

following support from a private individual

impressed by the potential of Scotland’s

young athletes.

Support is available for up to 12

prospective Commonwealth Games

athletes under the age of 26 towardstheir preparation for events leading up

to the 2014 Commonwealth Games and

beyond. Athletes have been selected

based on their performance at the 2011

Commonwealth Youth Games.

Whilst the award is made for an initial one

year period, an in principle commitment

is made for a further two years, giving

the athletes greater security and allowing

them to focus fully on their training and

competition. Care has also been taken to

ensure that this funding provides an

enhanced level of support and doesnot duplicate funding awarded by

other providers.

Six of the athletes awarded,

won medals at the 2011

Commonwealth Youth Games,

and all of them have demonstrated

success at junior national and

international level, coupled with the

potential to go on to represent Scotland at

future Games.

The funding will be put to a range of good

uses, but focused on helping with living

costs and special dietary requirements,

purchasing kit and equipment, assisting

with travel costs to training andcompetition or even for areas of personal

development.

Welcoming the new initiative, Michael

Cavanagh, Chairman of Commonwealth

Games Scotland said: “We are truly

indebted to this individual who has

recognised the potential that so many of

our young athletes in Scotland have. It is

fantastic that he has personally stepped

forward to support a number of them on

an ongoing basis in order to help secure

their sporting future. This is a crucial

time in their development when itwould be easy for external factors

such as cost to inuence their

decision whether to quit, or

continue and ourish in their

chosen sport.

New support scheme recognises potential

“I have no doubt that his generosity will

help to make a signicant difference

and allow these athletes to fully focus

on realising their sporting aspirations. I

know he will follow their progress with

interest and will gain great satisfaction

from seeing them achieve great things for

Scotland.”

Excited to be receiving £1000 towards

driving lessons and the cost of running

a car, triple gold medallist at the

Commonwealth Youth Games, swimmer

Craig Benson said: “This is fantastic

news. This funding will make a massive

difference to me helping me to become

self-sufcient getting to and from training.

The amount of support that my family

gives me is huge and to make it easier

nancially for them would be amazing.”

Fellow swimmer Emily Jones added: “To

receive this funding is a great boost for

me. I know I have the full support of my

family, but to know that there is support

of this kind from an organisation is

incredible, it means that others have the

belief in my abilities, and this will make

me even more determined than ever to

succeed and achieve my goals.”

With a ten year commitment given to the

PHM Scholarship Support Fund this is

great news for Scottish athletes.

A targeted new initiative was launched by the Scottish Commonwealth Games Youth

Trust at the end of February, which saw nine young athletes receive awards up to £1000

from the PHM Scholarship Support Fund in recognition of their potential.

Craig Benson celebrates

Youth Games success



Gold Coast comes out on top for 2018

2

Sports programme changes augur

well for ScotlandFollowing the year long review of the Sports Programme whichconcluded at the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) GeneralAssembly in St Kitts & Nevis last November, a number of welcomechanges were introduced. Those in place for Glasgow 2014 include:

The re-introduction of two bronze medals for Wrestling andJudo.The para-sport programme was increased from 15 to 20events across Athletics, Cycling, Lawn Bowls, Powerlifting andSwimming. These events include tandem cycling events inwhich Ayrshire’s Aileen McGlynn and Aberdonian Neil Fachieare current Paralympic and World medallists and there is a

welcome return for a disability triples Lawn Bowls event inwhich Scotland last competed and won gold in 2002.

Further changes were also made and will apply to the 2018 Gamesand beyond.

The women’s shooting programme was amended to makethe events equitable with the men. This is great news forScotland, and Jen McIntosh may now have the opportunity todefend the women’s smallbore prone title she won in 2010, aswell as the smallbore 3 position.Triathlon – a team event comprising two men and two womenwas added as an optional event.Three women’s events in Boxing were added.An eight team women’s Rugby 7s tournament has been

added as an optional event.Open Water Swimming was added as an optional discipline.

Since November, discussions have been taking place betweenGlasgow 2014 and the CGF about which if any of the other changes

they may be able to adopt in the sports programme for 2014.

In the vote to decide the host city for the

2018 Games the Gold Coast Australia beat

Hambantota, Sri Lanka by 43 votes to 27.

The Games will take place in April 2018 and

will include: Aquatics, Athletics, Badminton,

Basketball, Boxing, Cycling, Gymnastics,

Hockey, Lawn Bowls, Netball, Rugby 7s,

Shooting, Squash, Table Tennis, Triathlon,

Weightlifting, Wrestling.

Bid Chairman Mark Stockwell and CEO Mark

Peters have now been appointed to the

equivalent positions in the newly formed

Organising Committee.

Congratulating the Gold Coast, Michael

Cavanagh, Chairman, Commonwealth Games

Scotland said: “We are condent that Gold

Coast City will stage a fabulous Games,

reecting their own sporting culture and

heritage, whilst continuing to strengthen the

Games brand. We look forward to working with

them as the host city after Glasgow.”

This decision will now allow CGS to start

to form its initial plans for Team Scotland’s

participation.

It was also conrmed that the 2017

Commonwealth Youth Games will be held in St

Lucia, the rst time a Commonwealth Games

event has been held in the Caribbean since

Jamaica 1966.

CGF UPDATE

New leader at the helm for CGF

After 17 years continuous service as President of the CGF, TheHonorable Mike Fennell OJ CD of Jamaica stood down at theGeneral Assembly. He is succeeded by CGF vice-president,HRH Tunku Imran from Malaysia who stood unopposed, as didScotland’s Louise Martin CBE who was elected for a fourth term asHonorary Secretary.

In a visit to Glasgow in January to review progress towards 2014,CGS Chairman Michael Cavanagh had the opportunity to welcomethe Prince in his new ofcial capacity.

Tunku Imran has taken swift action to ensure the future of the CGFand has appointed pmplegacy to undertake a comprehensive andindependent Strategic Review of the organisation. The objective ofthe Review is to provide a framework for the future developmentof the CGF. It will consider the organisation’s vision and objectives,governance, management and funding, as well as branding andcommunications. Following extensive stakeholder consultation,the ndings of the Review will be reported at the CGF GeneralAssembly in Uganda in September.

Commenting Tunku Imran said: “This is a very exciting time forthe CGF. We recognise the many challenges and opportunitiesfacing the Commonwealth Games movement and this reviewprovides a critical opportunity to re-assess our long term visionand objectives and ensure our activities remain relevant andsustainable going forward.”

HRH Prince Imran with CGS Chairman Michael

Cavanagh on a visit to Glasgow in January



General Selection Policy in place

Following extensive consultation with the performance directors of the 17 sports on theGames programme, the General Selection Policy for Team Scotland at the Glasgow 2014Commonwealth Games, has now been approved and will come into play from 15 April 2013.This is the earliest that the General Selection Policy has been in place, ensuring all athletesin Scotland with the aspiration and potential to compete in Glasgow 2014 know at theearliest possible time exactly what they must do to make the team.

Over the last three Games cycles, Team Scotland has had increasing success, largely as aresult of a robust, clear, consistent selection policy and a strong Team Scotland ethos. Thisapproach will continue, providing every opportunity to enhance individual performances andbuilding 17 sports into one team.

Following a commitment made at the 2011 CGS AGM, the two aims of the updated policy areto ensure that Scotland selects a team that performs with distinction in 2014, achieving itshighest ever number of medals and highest number of gold medals, whilst maximising theopportunity of a home Games.

Amongst the key elements of the policy are:All individual sports on the 2014 programme will be represented by a minimum ofthree athletes, with the performance target of top eight or top two thirds of the eld atrecent Commonwealth Games, whichever is the tighter, being used as the benchmark.All host team sport places will be accepted to ensure Team Scotland representationin each sport in the Games, with the performance target of top eight in theCommonwealth.Where appropriate, non-accredited staff will be included as part of Team Scotland, toenhance the support service capability of the team.Consideration will be given to allow athletes to participate in additional events to thosethey qualify in, giving an opportunity to be inspired by a ‘Home Games’ environment.

Sport specic selection standards will now be developed in conjunction with each sport’s

governing body and will be published by 15 December 2012.

Core team in placeThe General Team Management for 2014 has now beenappointed* and planning meetings will commence in March2012 to give the longest possible lead time to capitalise onTeam Scotland’s greatest challenge to date. The GTM ismade up of an extremely experienced group of individualsto lead the key areas of the operation.

The appointment of Team Managers for each of the 17sports, along with additional medical and media staff, willfollow by the end of 2012. This is an open recruitmentprocess and we welcome applications from anyone withrelevant experience. Look out for the adverts onwww.cgcs.org.uk under news.

*Village staff to be conrmed

Team Scotland 2014preparations wellunder wayWith the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow now

only two and a half years away, Commonwealth

Games Scotland (CGS) is well on track with

its operational planning for Team Scotland’s

participation in the Games.

New Team logo

A new Team Scotland logo to

mark the team’s participation in

the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth

Games has been unveiled recently.

Designed by Tangent, It retains the

Team Scotland wordmark and CGS

thistle graphic whilst incorporating

elements of the Glasgow 2014

logo and wordmark using the

subtle, owing lines of the sport

pictograms.

The new logo will be used across

the range of promotional materials

and will be proudly worn on kit by all

those selected to represent TeamScotland in 2014.

Jon DoigChef de Mission

Niall ElliottHead of Medical Services

Elinor MiddlemissGeneral Team Manager

Lindsay ThomsonDeputy Head of Medical Services/Head Physiotherapist

Leslie RoyDeputy General Team Manager,Transport and Logistics

Katriona BushHead of Media & PR



Athletics

It was a fantastic Games for sprinter Tom Holligan, who was votedYouth Team Scotland’s agbearer for the Opening Ceremony. Tomwon gold in the 200m at the European Youth Olympic Festival inJuly, and he replicated his performance in the Isle of Man to addthe Commonwealth Youth Games title to his name.

Elsewhere on the track Chloe Lambert won bronze in thewomen’s 200m on what turned out to be a fantastic closing dayfor Scotland’s athletics team. Kimberley Reed won silver in thewomen’s hammer, while Nick Percy tpicked up bronze in the men’s

event. Nick added that bronze to the silver medal he’d pickedup in the discus the day before, where he set a new British

under-17 record.

The 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games took place in

the Isle of Man from 7-13 September, with Scotland

returning home with an impressive 22 medals (ve

gold, six silver and 11 bronze) to nish sixth on the

medal table. 19 athletes contributed to the nal

total, which shows there is a depth of exciting

young talent coming through the ranks.

Aside from the medals, each and every one of Scotland’s

athletes performed exceptionally well and will take away

some important lessons from the Games, as well as some

Badminton

Scotland’s young badminton players equipped themselves wellagainst some world-class opposition, in a busy three days ofcompetition on the court. Kirsty Gilmour battled well throughthe women’s singles but lost out in the semi-nals against theeventual silver medallist. In the bronze medal match, Kirsty put

in a commanding performance to win in straight sets and win herrst major international medal.

lifelong memories. The Commonwealth Youth Games

are all about offering development opportunities

for athletes and staff, and the whole team

undoubtedly beneted from the experience.

With around 25% of previous Youth Games

athletes going on to represent Scotland at the

senior Games, we will undoubtedly see moreof these young athletes over the coming years. In the

meantime we look back on the three days of competition

in the Isle of Man.

Kirsty Gilmour

Tom Holligan

Youth Team Scotland perform strongly in Isle of Man



Boxing

Up against some strong Commonwealthopposition, Scotland’s ve boxers fought

well to win four medals; three silverand one bronze. Bantamweight ghter

Mark McKeown lost out narrowly to theeventual gold medallist on the opening

day of competition, while Rhys Pagan wonbronze in the light welterweight division.

Charlie Flynn (lightweight), Kieran Smith(welterweight) and Grant Quigley

(middleweight) were all in good shape,making it through to the gold medal

bouts on the nal evening of theGames. All three athletes fought well,

but lost out, meaning they came homewith three silver medals. Charlie and

Grant came incredibly close to takinggold, with a single point deciding their

respective contests.

5

Gymnastics

Scotland’s six gymnasts lined up inthe team all-around competitionson the opening day with the womennishing fourth and the men fth.This qualied each of the athletes forindividual events over the weekend.

Swimming

Scotland’s swimmers won half of the

total medal haul, with nine athletes

collecting 11 medals. Breaststroker,

and athlete of the Games, Craig

Benson won gold in the 50m,

100m and 200m breaststroke and

helped the men’s 4x100m medley

relay team to silver, supported by

Josh Booth, Ali Stirling and Mark

Szaranek.

Emily Jones was the most

medalled female athlete at the

Games, winning three bronze in

the 400m individual medley, 100m

breaststroke and 4x200m freestyle

relay along with Fiona Donnelly,

Kirstin McKinley and Rachel

Sharples.

Fiona Donnelly, Charlotte McKenzie,

Ali Stirling and Mark Szaranek all

won individual bronze medals to

complete the impressive total fromthe pool. Swimming also threw up

one of the most exciting moments of

the Games when Fiona Donnelly and

Emily Jones nished in a dead heat

in 400m individual medley to share

the bronze medal.

Rugby 7s

In the pool matches, Scotland won againstthe Isle of Man and Canada beforelosing out to Australia, who topped thegroup. The boys put in a convincingperformance in the semi-nal againstSri Lanka to set up a quarter-nalagainst England. Despite playing well,England prevailed and went on to winthe competition, leaving Scotland toface Australia once more in the bronzemedal match. In an agonisingly closegame the Aussies came out on top 15-12,with Scotland nishing in fourth place.

Douglas Ross

Emily JonesCraig Benson

Douglas Ross excelled

in the men’s vaultnal to win gold. Henished with a scoreof 14.825, whichwas enough to seeoff some strongcompetition.

Cycling

There was a host of World and European champions competingin the three cycling disciplines at the Youth Games, butScotland’s athletes Grant Ferguson, Stuart McCluskey, TaylorJohnstone and Jack Barrett all raced well. Ferguson inparticular pushed the medal winners close, coming 11th in thetime trial, sixth in the road race and fth in the criterium.

Many thanks to our hosts in the Isle

of Man for organising such a great

Commonwealth Youth Games. We now

look forward to Samoa in 2015 after

which it will move in the calendar to be

held in the year prior to a main Games,

in 2017 in St Lucia.

Shannon Archer,

Carly Smith and

Cara Kennedy

Grant FergusonMark McKeown

Sam Hidalgo-Clyne





Bankier named sportsperson of the yearAt the Commonwealth Games Dinner in Glasgow in October, therewas recognition for a number of the nation’s top sportsmen andwomen after an exciting and action packed year for Scottishsport. The dinner, organised by Commonwealth Games Scotland inpartnership with Glasgow 2014, looked back at the success of thenext generation of Team Scotland athletes who competed in the2011 Commonwealth Youth Games, as well as celebrating the 1000days to go mark until the 2014 Games come to Glasgow.

Badminton player Imogen Bankier was the recipient of the topaward of the evening, fending off some tough opposition tobe named the Scottish Sportsperson of 2011 and awarded the

‘Lonsdale Trophy’ along with a cheque for £1000. She is the rstbadminton player to win the title and only the third woman tobe recognised, following in the footsteps of Katherine Grainger(rowing) and Hannah Miley (swimming).

Imogen became the rst player representing Scotland to make itto a World Badminton Championships nal, where she won silverin the mixed-doubles with partner Chris Adcock (England).

The badminton star was up against some strong competition forthe award, with world medallist swimmer Hannah Miley and juniorworld champion cyclist John Paul named as runners-up.

Team of the YearYouth Team Scotland scooped

the Team of the Year Awardat the 2011 Sunday Mailandsportscotland ScottishSports Awards, following their fantastic performance at theCommonwealth Youth Games.

There on the night to collect the Award were gold medallists TomHolligan, athletics and gymnast Douglas Ross, silver medallist inboxing Kieran Smith, badminton player Caitlin Pringle and cyclistStuart McCluskey, accompanied by General Team Manager VickyStrange and Deputy General Team Manager Elinor Middlemiss.

CGS Chief Executive, Jon Doig said: “We are absolutely delightedto be recognised as Team of the Year for the second time insuccession. Our Youth Games athletes and staff did a fantastic

job in the Isle of Man and had a great introduction to theCommonwealth Games that will undoubtedly benet them andTeam Scotland in the future. Many of them will now have theirsights rmly set on Glasgow 2014.”

Awards and recognition for top Scots

Sir Peter Heatlyat the heart of 2014

It was a proud day in December for Commonwealth Games

legend Sir Peter Heatly, when Glasgow 2014 named

its boardroom ‘The Sir Peter Heatly Boardroom’ in his

honour. The welcome gesture was in recognition of Sir

Peter’s unprecedented success as a diver and his unique

association with the Commonwealth Games.

After competing in the 1948 London Olympics, where

he nished fth, Sir Peter won three consecutive diving

gold medals in Auckland 1950, Vancouver 1954 and

Cardiff 1958 before going on to become Chairman of the

Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) from 1982 to

1990. The self-taught diver from Leith who dominated

diving in Scotland for over 20 years has attended all 17

Games from 1950 as Competitor, Manager, Organiser,

Chairman of the CGF and, most recently, as Life Vice

President of the CGF.

The naming ceremony was part of the ofcial opening

celebrations of Glasgow 2014’s impressive new HQ in

the Merchant City which will be home to 1044 members

of staff at Games-time. All 17 Commonwealth sports are

portrayed extensively throughout the building, including

the use of pictograms and sport terminology in designing

and naming all the meeting rooms.

Front Row: Catlin Pringle, Kieran Smith, Stuart McCluskey and Douglas Ross.Back Row: Presenter Neil Lennon, Vicky Strange, Tom Holligan, Elinor Middlemiss and Robert Bell



To ensure that an athletefocus remains at thecore of the organisation’s

thinking and planning,CGS has appointedformer shooter andmultiple CommonwealthGames medallist Susan

Jackson, as the AthleteRepresentative who attends the Boardmeetings.

Completing the line-up,Joan Watt has beenappointed as HonoraryMedical Adviser for a thirdterm.

Commonwealth Games Scotland, Gannochy Sports Centre, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA

Already voted in as anexecutive director at theAGM, Peter Nicolson has

now been appointed asthe new Finance Director,following a previoussuccessful term asTreasurer. His executivedirector post has been lled by Leslie Royfor a two year term.

Joining the Board asDirector of CorporateGovernance is Professor

Leigh Robinson, aninternational expert insport governance and

management at theUniversity of Stirling.

Scottish athletes across many of the

17 Commonwealth Games sports are

busy competing for selection for the

London 2012 Olympic Games. If the

recent amazing display by the legendary

Sir Chris Hoy in the fabulous new state

of the art velodrome is anything to goby, it is going to be an exciting summer

of sport for Scots on Team GB. It also

serves to build the anticipation for a

home Commonwealth Games in Glasgow

in 2014. Good luck to all our athletes

looking to make Team GB. We look

forward to following your progress,

cheering you on and applying lessons

learnt in Glasgow in 2014.

Liz was involved in both the 1970and 1986 Commonwealth Games inEdinburgh, as a member of the medicalteam which set up and ran the Gamesmedical facilities.

Having previously worked with bothScottish and British Athletics she wasdelighted to be chosen to go to Victoriain 1994 as one of the two medical ofcers

for the Scottish Team. This was followedin 1998 by her appointment

As Honorary Medical Adviser in thepreparations for the Kuala LumpurGames and attending those Games

as Head Doctor. She was also oneof the general team staff at theVillage in Edinburgh for the inauguralCommonwealth Youth Games in 2000.

Liz was very involved in the then edglingdiscipline of Sports Medicine and servedas Chair of the British Association ofSports Medicine, Scottish Branch.

She made a signicant contribution to

the management of medical services atCommonwealth Games and certainly lefther personal mark on the sports medicineprofession of Scotland and the UK andwill be greatly missed.

A tribute to Dr. Elizabeth McSwan 1939 – 2012It is with great sadness that CGS learnt of the death of

Dr Elizabeth McSwan in February.

Key dates 201231 May CGS Annual General Meeting,

University of StirlingManagement Centre

27 Jul – 12 Aug London 2012 Olympic Games

29 Aug – 9 Sep London 2012 ParalympicGames

28 Sep CGF General Assembly,Kampala, Uganda

15 Dec 2014 Sports Specic SelectionStandards complete

Photo credits: Rebecca Lee, Glasgow 2014,

Duncan McEwan, Ideal Images, Mark Shearman,

Gold Coast 2018, Sunday Mail

Scotland benets from

intern programme

This spring, CGS will benet from the

CGF’s Intern programme organised by

Commonwealth Games Canada. We

would like to welcome Colin Whitmee

from Antigonish, Nova Scotia who will

take up a placement with us between

April and July 2012. Colin will providesupport for sport administration

activities and in particular the

implementation of the Games

Management software program Zeus.

Colin is a former CIS varsity soccer

player and has worked and volunteered

for a variety of sport organizations,

including Water Ski and Wakeboard

Canada and the Ottawa Senators.

CGS Board expandedFollowing decisions taken at the 2011 CGS AGM, four new non-executive directors have been appointed

to the Board to complement the skill set of its existing members.

Jane Gotts has beenappointed as Directorof Marketing and

Communication. Janeis International Directorof Scottish Council forDevelopment and Industryas well as ProgrammeDirector of BusinessClub Scotland.

Paul Bush OBE has beenappointed as the fourthnon-executive Director.Chief Operating Ofcerfor Event Scotland,Paul was General TeamManager for Team

Scotland in 2002, Chef de Mission in 2006and was Director of Scotland House in 2010.

Good luck for 2012!

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Countdown - Spring 2012