Team Scotland plan to have a stunning new look, when as the home team they are last to enter the stadium at Celtic Park for the Opening Ceremony of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, a year from now.
Internationally known textile designer and artist, Jilli Blackwood has been commissioned by Commonwealth Games Scotland (CGS) to bring some contemporary style and flair to the parade uniforms and ensure that when the eyes of the world are on Scotland they live up to expectations.
Explaining how it all began, CGS Chief Executive and Team Scotland Chef de Mission Jon Doig said: “The Scottish team has always made a big impression when it enters the stadium at a Commonwealth Games, mainly wearing the traditional kilt. However for 2014, whilst we want to retain iconic Scottish elements we want to introduce a contemporary twist.
“Over the years we have had special team tartans made and sometimes we have drawn links to the Games host country such as Indian style shirt collars in Delhi 2010, but the look has largely remained consistent and traditional. The women in particular have always felt that the design is vey male oriented and lacks a sense of style and attention to detail.
“So for 2014 we decided to engage a designer to work with us, to ensure that we bring a contemporary look that works for everyone and one that showcases the best of Scotland’s vibrant design industry. We have also involved the athletes in the discussions and decision making and will continue to do so throughout.
“We saw the stunning outfits that Jilli Blackwood designed for the cast involved in the Glasgow section of the Delhi 2010 Closing Ceremony and decided to discuss our ideas with her.
“I am delighted to say that her interpretation of our initial brief was spot on and that she understood what we are trying to achieve from the word go. So we are delighted to have now formally engaged her to work with us on this really exciting project.”
Born in Glasgow and educated at Glasgow School of Art, Jilli Blackwood makes her own fabrics by weaving them on a 24 inch Harris loom. She is renowned for her embroidery techniques and for combining different fabrics such as silk, leather, and linen to create a colourful, sensual, three-dimensional surface. All fabrics are hand dyed in an inspirational process of artistic alchemy.
Jilli is delighted to be working on this commission and whilst not ready to reveal her full design ideas yet, she outlines: “My vision for the project is to create a strong and confident look for the team through colour and texture which is loosely inspired by the Scottish Highland landscape.
“The design is about layering of experiences and it is full of vibrancy and enthusiasm and will make a clear statement of intent for the athletes, as they enter one of the biggest arenas of their sporting careers.”
Whilst still at an early stage in the process, CGS is confident that with Jilli’s help they will achieve the impact they want, when the anticipated more than one billion viewers world-wide tune into the Opening Ceremony on 23d July 2014.
Photo: Ken Mellin
After 12 years working for Commonwealth Games Scotland, Chief Executive and Team Chef de Mission, Jon Doig is no stranger to this game. However, with one year to go until Glasgow 2014, the New Zealander is hoping these Games have the same lasting impact on thousands of Scots, just as witnessing his first Games did.
“To this day, I still hear people in Scotland talking about the impact the 1970 Edinburgh Games had on them”, Doig said. “I would be delighted if Glasgow 2014 also has a 40+ year impact, particularly on children watching the Games and that they become inspired to have a sporting career themselves or even go into coaching or administration based on what they see here.”
Jon Doig’s passion for the Commonwealth Games started when he was eight years old, attending his first Games with his father and sister in Christchurch, New Zealand.
“It was the most mind blowing experience to see the athletes in those games and see all these countries I’d never heard of”, he recalls. “It was stimulating to go through and learn about the countries and the sports. My sister went on to swim at the 1984 Olympic Games, my brother was in the 1990 Commonwealth Games and I became a sports administrator now working on my fifth Commonwealth Games, such was the impression it made on us. I’m now really looking forward to my own three boys having that same experience this year, and seeing lots of kids across Scotland benefit as well.”
In the meantime, the next year is going to be very important for Doig and his management team to prepare for Glasgow 2014. Long hours of detailed event planning and preparation will consume them before, during and even after the Games take place.
“With one year to go, we need to make sure our plans are in place. From managing the selection of the athletes, to ordering the team clothing, preparing our area of accommodation in the Village and ensuring all the necessary support staff and systems are in place to create an appropriate environment where the athletes have ever opportunity to excel at the Games.”
However, at the end of all of that planning, something truly magical happens when the athletes come together for the first time under the Team Scotland banner.
“It’s like the first day of school”, Doig said. “We will have a team camp at the start of July 2014, when the athletes come together for the first time. There will be those who have met before and even competed against each other for a number of years and are meeting again in Glasgow; but we also have the athletes who have never been before and don’t quite know what to expect.”
“They work really hard to get here and then all of the sudden what’s been a dream for so long becomes a reality. It’s a great feeling to witness this and to help mould and shape the athletes and staff from the 17 sports into one team over the period of the Games, supportive and respectful of each other from start to finish, as we strive to have our most successful Games ever.”
Doig is confident that Scotland’s plans are well on track and he looks forward with a mixture of anticipation and excitement to welcoming the class of 2014 to Team Scotland.
Photo Credit: CGS
With an impressive track record to build on and a great 2013 season so far, 400m hurdler Eilidh Child is ready to take on the world in August when she heads to Moscow for the World Championships. She is then just one winter’s training away from a home Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next year and the prospect of hearing Hampden roar for her and fellow Team Scotland track and field athletes.
The 26 year old is no stranger to top flight competition, having competed in both the 2009 and 2011 World Championships, the London 2012 Olympic Games, and she was a silver medallist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Originally from Perth, Eilidh currently splits her time between Cumbernauld and training down in Bath with specialist hurdles coach, Malcolm Arnold, which has produced some impressive results, going under the Glasgow qualification standard on numerous occasions already this year, setting PBs and Scottish records in the process.
Looking back on her Olympic experiences of a year ago she said: “I don’t think I expected London to be as loud and great as it was on the first day. Usually at the morning events, the crowds aren’t all there. When we came out on that first day it was a full stadium, and the noise was just deafening, and I think that surprised everyone.”
“After the Olympics, I’ve talked to so many people who couldn’t make it to London, but have said they want the same feeling at Glasgow, and will not be missing out in 2014. I think because it’s a home games it’s going to be more intimate than the Olympics. It’s Scotland, and if you’re a Scottish athlete it will be more of a patriotic picture because we’re not just competing for Great Britain.”
With one year to go, Child is beginning to embrace the level of expectations on her shoulders: “It’s really quite scary”, Child jokingly said. “It doesn’t feel like three years ago that we competed in Delhi, and everything is coming round so quickly. I’m glad that I am running well and achieving personal bests now.”
Child is also up to speed with the ambitious plans that will be implemented to transform Hampden Park into the athletics centrepiece for the Commonwealth Games. Normally home to the Scotland national football team, and host to Scottish Cup finals and the like, a temporary track with a fast Mondo surface will be installed, sitting approximately eight rows above the existing pitch. Child knows the stadium well; having watched her beloved Herts play there on occasions, and is looking forward to the experience.
“We were just talking the other day about how they are going to lift up the track”, Child said. “I was wondering if it will still feel like the Hampden I know, and when I step out onto the track will it feel like something different. It’s weird to think about.”
No stranger to the Commonwealth Games, Eilidh has been watching and following Team Scotland for several years. Her earliest memory was the Manchester Games in 2002 when she was 15 and starting to compete in athletics herself. Eight years later, she was competing in Delhi and winning a silver medal in the 400m hurdles.
“Watching Manchester and Melbourne were exciting to me because I knew the people running. I think these Games in Glasgow will be totally different from Delhi, because Delhi was at the end of the athletics season, and many teams didn’t put out as many athletes. I think here there will be a different feel because you’re in your home country. Instead of just immediate family coming to watch, all my aunties and uncles will be here, and that will be incredible to have them on my side.”
Focusing for now on the World Championships, with a place in the final her season’s goal, Child is preparing herself for what will hopefully go down as one of the biggest breakthrough years of her career so far. Competing against GB team mate and long-time rival Perri Shakes-Drayton, the two will be battling it in Moscow and then carrying that competition over to Glasgow in 2014, when they will wear opposing team vests.
Currently number seven in the world, Eilidh is doggedly working towards Commonwealth gold, and is assured of having the support of Team Scotland and the Scottish public behind her, one hurdle at a time.
You can follow Eilidh on Twitter @EilidhChild
Photo Credit: CGS
Sergeant Michael “Micky” Yule looks set to become one of the first Scottish Para-Sport athletes to qualify for Glasgow 2014 in the Powerlifting competition, after placing 4th at the European Championships in May and winning the British National Championships in June. Currently ranked number five in the world for the up to 72kg weight category by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Yule’s focus for this next year is to be stronger than ever, and hopefully achieve gold at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, before he sets his sights on the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.
A member of the British Army, Yule was injured by an improvised explosive device (IED) whilst serving in Afghanistan in 2010, an injury that required more than 40 operations and left him a double amputee. Competing in Power-lifting competitions for the Army since 2007, Yule took a year to recover from his accident before getting back into the gym in 2011 and competing for Great Britain in Para-Sport Powerlifting competitions.
“After I was injured, I struggled to find out if I could continue the sport and if it would be possible for me”, the Musselburgh man said. “When I found out I had the opportunity to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, I was confident of doing it because I just needed to get over the accident mentally.”
“I had more than forty operations after the accident, and it was hard to get back into training. Once I started training, and began hitting the numbers that I needed to get, it took a bit of the pressure off that I had built up.”
Just two short years after his recovery, Yule is stronger than ever and looks forward to competing in two big competitions leading into the Commonwealth Games over the next year. The first challenge will be the Malaysia Open Powerlifting Championship in November, and then progressing to the IPC Powerlifting World Championships in April 2014.
“A lot of guys that I will be competing against at the Commonwealth Games will be at both of these events”, Yule said. “The weight I need to hit is around 190-195kg. I’m a little behind that now, but I’m improving all the time.”
Yule’s current personal best is 183kg and if Yule can hit 190-195kg, he would be lifting more than three times his body weight.
Before his accident, Yule had been training with his friends and competing for the Army weightlifting team. Now, he is a British Weighlifting Association for the Disabled (BWAD) National Champion, a bronze medallist from the Dubai Open in February, and hopes to be the first Powerlifter to represent Scotland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
“When you get picked for Scotland or Great Britain, you see how professional the setup is, as opposed to just training in the gym with my mates”, Yule said. “It can be a bit daunting going through this roller coaster with all the different operations. Having something like the Commonwealth Games to look forward to is great and helps to take my mind off things and helps me visualize how to get on with my life.”
With the one year to go mark celebrated today (23rd July), Yule is working away in the gym and showing the kind of courage and determination that most of us just can’t contemplate. Now off his initial roller coaster ride and supported by the sportscotland institute of sport, Micky aims to steadily progress up the IPC rankings to number one in the world and hopefully gold at Glasgow 2014. At just 34 years old, he still has many years to come in the sport, and he is not planning on slowing down anytime soon.
You can follow Micky on Twitter @MickyYule9
Photo Credit: Rob Eyton-Jones, courtesy of sportscotland
It has been a long series of ups and downs for judo player Sarah Clark, in a career that has spanned nearly thirty years. She has competed at the highest level of her sport, including three Olympic Games and has achieved several top-three World and European Championship finishes. Now at the age of 35, Clark is still enjoying being in the training regime and aiming for gold at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The last time judo was included on the Commonwealth Games programme was in Manchester in 2002. At those Games, Clark took silver in the women’s under 63kg category, only succumbing in the final to Karen Roberts of England. Furthermore she was one of ten Scottish judo medallists, so it is no surprise that Scotland chose to include it as one of seven optional sports for Glasgow 2014.
Since then, Clark has continued her judo journey, competing at no less than three Olympic Games. Most recently at London 2012, Clark was defeated in the first round in the under 57kg category. She then took some time out to reflect, assess where she was and what she needed to do if she was to come back stronger than ever and go for gold in Glasgow.
“I never thought of retiring”, the native of South Shields said. “I sat down and assessed where I was and what I needed to do, and thought to myself that finishing on a high note and getting a gold medal (in Glasgow) would be a good way to end my career. I am physically and mentally in a good place.”
With renewed focus, Clark is beginning to get back into serious training. However she is taking a slightly different approach and cutting down her training compared to previous years, to allow time to get more involved with the Winning Scotland Foundation’s project “Champions in Schools”.
“My training needs to be smart and hard, focusing on making every session count”, Clark said. “I need to have a good plan in place every day, stay confident in my judo ability and stay injury free and healthy.”
“I am not in 100% full time training, as I am involved with schools and very keen on promoting sport and healthy lifestyles. With the Champions in Schools programme, I work with selected schools over three different sessions, six weeks apart, to promote winning attitudes and setting goals. I use my position and experience as an athlete to teach students how to set healthy goals and encourage kids that no matter what they want to do, they can do it.”
Through this programme, Clark has developed a strong affinity to girls in sport; having been a successful female athlete in a sport many perceive to be masculine and aggressive. She is hoping that she can be a role model for other girls.
“Being a woman in sport, I want to influence girls about sport and healthy lifestyles, as well as teach them that it is cool to be fit and healthy. I want to get them to understand that you can still look nice and not be all muscly.”
“I picked judo when I was nine years of age, the boys at my school did judo and I wanted to try it”, Clark said. “It turned out judo picked me, and I happened to be quite good at it. I wish I knew the key to success, but the most important thing is to be dedicated.”
“Over the years you see the players who haven’t given up trying to make it to the top level, even though they may not be the strongest or most technical. The key is to push through when you are winning, and keep turning up.”
With just one year to go to the Games, Clark is hoping to be one of up to seven women judoka selected to represent Team Scotland and with her dedication and successful track record, it must surely only be a matter of time before she “turns up” in Glasgow next summer.
You can follow Sarah on Twitter @sarahclark_judo
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Scotland’s Grant Ferguson and Lee Craigie were crowned British Champions on home soil at the British National Mountain Bike Cross Country Championships.
The duo led from the front in their respective male and female senior events and were cheered across the finish line by vocal home support at Cathkin Braes Country Park, the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games venue.
Both bikers took a major step towards qualification for Team Scotland and are now gearing up to be on the starting line in just over a year’s time.
For 19-year-old Ferguson, from Peebles, making the team is top of the agenda having already sampled the environment at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man.
“I really enjoyed that, it was a great experience to be part of Team Scotland and to learn to work within the team and help support everyone around you. With Team Scotland, in a Glasgow Games, a home games, in such a big event it will be great.”
“I’m really pleased to be British Champion as it’s been a target for a couple of months and I really wanted to nail it especially on the Commonwealth Games course a year out, so I’m over the moon.”
£The course is awesome and I could hear folk shouting for me so I wanted to impress. Next year it will be massive to have a home crowd behind us. It will help give us that edge over everyone else we are racing so I’d ask the Scottish fans to buy loads of tickets and fill the venue so no-one else can get in then it will be awesome.”
Glaswegian Craigie, a qualified psychotherapist, was equally effusive about the potential that Scottish support can play.
She said: “Having the home crowd cheering me on was amazing and it does give you that little extra edge. You can prepare all you like, but with folk actually cheering your name and feeling that they are behind you it gives you that extra five percent boost which can be massive when you consider the margins in which international races are won and lost.”
“Come on Scotland, that camaraderie is what we do best. We can do amazing things if we have the nation behind us. When I’m racing I’ve got my head down but every shout goes in and makes a difference.”
Craigie suffered a chain malfunction on the final lap of the exciting Cathkin course, but kept her cool and following a quick repair, rode to victory on a course on which she has already enjoyed success, winning a Scottish Series event in May.
£I feel really comfortable on this course”, smiled Craigie. “Normally the night before a race I lie down and visualise a course and I always go blank on certain areas, but here I can play the whole route through in my mind and I feel confident and happy on every section. That makes a big difference.”
“It was huge as for me to win for three reasons: it’s the British National Championships; it’s at Cathkin Braes in my hometown and it’s on the Commonwealth Games course. You could convince yourself at times out there from hearing people cheering your name that it was 2014. With the set-up and the support, I could get a sense of what it’s going to feel like. It’s so exciting for everyone and it’s going to be so inspiring for the next generation. I feel really privileged to be one of the hopefuls.”
You can follow Grant and Lee on Twitter @GrantFerguson1 @leecraigie_
Photo Credit: Andy Whitehouse
Aged just 28, Rab Wardell finds himself one of the elder statesmen of an up and coming Scottish Mountain Bike Cross-Country team that boasts two of Britain’s top riders in Kenta Gallagher (21) and Grant Ferguson (20).
Acknowledging the benefits of competition Rab said: “It’s great they are breaking through, they are raising the level all the time and to have that depth can only be a good thing. It pushes you, and they have another 15 years left so they are nowhere near their peak yet. They are really helping me improve.”
Rab was 14 when his older brother bought a mountain bike and he quickly joined him riding down trails and footpaths on family holidays. However, it quickly turned fromjust a hobby into a career.
His determination and focus drove him to the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, which unfortunately ended in frustration when  a mechanical failure with his bike literally stopped him in his tracks. However Rab went on to be be a support rider for the team in the road race and described the experience: “It was amazing! It was not a successful Games in terms of competition, but racing in front of those big crowds and being part of something on that scale was an incredible opportunity.”
Scotland’s international reputation is also something to be proud of according to Rab: “When people met you and they found out you were Scottish, everyone was so psyched. The team is really highly thought of and it was an honour to represent my country.”
With no Mountain Biking at the Commonwealth Games in 2010, Rab briefly retired, but he is now back in the saddle and in the Scottish squad. However with its new crop of talented young guns, Rab will need to put his foot down if he is to qualify for Glasgow 2014.
“I aim to qualify for the Mountain Biking again, but there are four to six guys competing for three places. But I cannot worry about that, I just have to ride as well as I can and hopefully the qualification will take care of itself.”
“If I’m honest, I haven’t really thought much passed the qualification period. Qualifying for the team is a real challenge and I don’t want to count my chickens just yet. But I am raising my game and progressing. Of course it could always be better, but I would say I am on track so far.”
Rab, who originally hails from Dunfermline but now lives in Glasgow, recently took a morning off from his job with the private Mountain Bike coaching firm, Dirt School, to show off the new Glasgow 2014 Mountain Bike course at Cathkin Braes to the Scottish media. His next time out on the course will be for real, when he takes part in the 2013 British Mountain Bike Cross-Country Championships (21 July) and hopefully gets one step closer to taking part in a home Commonwealth Games.
You can follow Rab on Twitter @RabWardell
Photo Credit: CGS
Twice Paralympics silver medallist and three times World Champion, Libby Clegg is aiming to produce a medal winning performance at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. And to help her, she is urging Scotland to support her and the team.
The 23 year old visually impaired T12 100m and 200m sprinter knows what it’s like to win medals at the highest level. Last summer at the London 2012 Paralympic Games she won the T12 100m adding to her silver at the same distance in Beijing four years previously.
Having experienced the electrifying support from a packed stadium in London she knows firsthand how a home crowd lifts an athlete.
“In London it made a massive difference having your friends and family watching and competing in front of a home crowd”, said Clegg.
“And, with the Games being in Glasgow, a lot more of my family and friends will be able to come and support.”
“Having the crowd behind you gives the stadium an incredible atmosphere and when everyone is in the spirit of things it really encourages athletes to perform to their best abilities.”
Born in Stockport and brought up in the Scottish Borders, Clegg attended the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh and runs for Edinburgh Athletics Club. If she qualifies for Team Scotland, competing in Glasgow this will be her first time in a Scottish vest and she aims to win gold.
Whilst the selection period for athletes aiming to make Team Scotland opened in April, Libby’s major event of the year and an opportunity to reach the selection criteria for the Glasgow Games will be the World Championships in Lyon, France starting this weekend.
“I’ve competed for Great Britain but I don’t have a Scotland vest yet so it would be a great honour to compete in Glasgow in front of a home crowd and pull off a good result”, she said.
“The Worlds is one of my qualification events and a good opportunity for me to put down some good times and hopefully get selected for Team Scotland.”
Clegg has a further message to the Scottish public, particularly those people that are not normally involved in sport.
“Just being part of the crowd at such a big event like the Commonwealth Games will be an experience you will remember forever”, she said.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for people to see what else is out there and hopefully for Scotland to show what great performances we can offer. So I say get behind the team, come along and support us.”
You can follow Libby on Twitter @LibbyClegg
Photo Credit: Alistair Devine
Scottish athletes are celebrating their most significant moment in terms of Team GB representation for 30 years.
No fewer than seven Scots have been named by British Athletics for the World Championships in Moscow next month.
It matches the record number of seven selected way back in 1983 when the event was first held in Helsinki and the sport in this country enjoyed the so-called golden era of Allan Wells, Yvonne Murray and Liz McColgan.
Now there is a new generation emerging with the seven picked this time a significant slice of Team GB’s 60-strong squad for Russia and more than double the three athletes picked for World Champs in 2011 and 2009. Heading to Russia are: Eilidh Child, Eilish McColgan, Laura Muir, Susan Partridge, Kirsten McAslan, Chris O’Hare and Jamie Bowie.
With next week marking a year to go to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the inclusions came hard on the heels of a 14-medal haul at the British Championships in Birmingham last weekend which was the best overall Scottish performance in that event for 25 years.
“There have been a lot of encouraging signs over the last few months and this is another huge boost for everyone connected with athletics in Scotland,” said scottishathletics Director of Coaching, Stephen Maguire.
“We’ve been talking about a lot of potential and now we are seeing that being translated into performances and this kind of representation in a senior GB team for a World Championships. We had two medals at the Euro Under-23s in Finland last weekend, too.
“I am hugely energised and invigorated by this and would stress again the work by the personal coaches of those involved with these seven athletes – many congratulations to all of those.
“I think this can be inspirational for young Scottish athletes around the country. A lot of them have competed against these athletes and there’s a knock-on effect as people try to improve their own performances and raise standards.”
Olympian Eilidh Child will attend the World Champs for the third time in her career and was named for 400m hurdles and the 4 x 400m relay.
British champion Eilish McColgan will compete in the 3000m steeplechase while Susan Partridge, the best British woman finisher in the London Marathon, was already assured of her place for Moscow. Partridge was 24th in the marathon in Daegu two years ago.
But the real bonus came with four young athletes named for their first experience of major championships at senior level in O’Hare (1500m), Muir (800m), Bowie (4 x 400m relay) and McAslan (4 x 400m relay).
Veterinary medicine student Muir for her part completes an amazing hat-trick in terms of track championships after competing at 3000m at the World Juniors last summer and the Euro Under-23s at 1500m last weekend, where she won a bronze medal.
Now the Dundee Hawkhill athlete will be in the 800m alongside top English prospect Jessica Judd – as she demonstrates a range which even includes a Euro Cross Country appearance for GB at the end of 2011. The 20-year-old is regarded as a tremendous prospect and is now firmly on the British radar.
O’Hare wins his reward for a recent 3.35 British rankings leading run at 1500m as well as his title win at the Alexander Stadium on Saturday. The Tulsa University student was quickly on Twitter to thank family and friends.
“It is official – I am in the team for the World Championships in Moscow,” said the 22-year-old, who came through the ranks with Edinburgh AC.
“Huge thank you to everyone who has helped get me here. West Linton Cross Country is where I learned my trade!”
Bowie, from Inverness Harriers, actually works in athletics with East Lothian Council and recorded two PBs in three days at the British Champs. He has a relay gold medal from Euro Under-23s two years ago.
Manchester-based McAslan is not yet even turned 20 but is steeped in the sport with her mother, uncle and grandfather all having represented Scotland in track and field.
The only disappointment from a Scottish perspective was Steph Twell’s omission. The 5000m British champion had a B standard but was left out with nobody picked for that event for women. Twell missed the Olympics through injury and was dropped from central UK funding but has recovered well. It is likely she will now compete at the Scottish championships in Glasgow on the same weekend (August 10/11) as the action starts in Moscow.
Adding his congratulations, Michael Cavanagh, Chairman Commonwealth Games Scotland said: “It is hugely encouraging to see how well Scottish athletes are performing this season. More than 30 athletes have posted Commonwealth Games selection standards for Team Scotland on at least one occasion and it is fantastic to see so many Scots selected for the World Championships with the opportunity to compete against the very best in the World.
“With a year still to go to Glasgow 2014 it augurs extremely well and I hope the Scottish public take the opportunity to buy tickets to watch the action for themselves, when they go on sale next month.”
Team Scotland athletes were given an exclusive first glimpse inside the state-of-the-art development which will become the home from home for 4,500 top sportsmen and women from across the world for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Saturday 13 July marks exactly One Year To Go until team members and officials from 71 nations and territories start to take up residence for the Games in the 700-home Dalmarnock complex in the heart of Glasgow’s east end which will be transformed into Glasgow 2014’s Athletes’ Village.
Adam Cox, a Team Scotland bronze medallist in Gymnastics from the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and Netball player Lynsey Gallagher, who hopes to compete in a Games for the first time at Glasgow 2014, were given a behind the scenes tour of the site where 85% of homes are already complete. Both athletes were also given a flavour of how it will function at Games-time – complete with a full medical centre, shops, recreation areas and 24-hour dining facilities for the athletes and team officials.
The site, Scotland’s first large-scale carbon neutral housing development, will start its transformation for Games-mode at the start of next year. The Glasgow 2014 Athletes’ Advisory Committee has been involved throughout the design stages of the project to ensure that it is more than just a bed between training and competition.
Athletes and officials will be accommodated within a range of properties – from terraced homes, to contemporary cubed townhouses – within the 35 hectare site which has been developed by City Legacy – a private sector consortium which is working with Glasgow City Council.
It was revealed today that at Games-time the Village site will be zoned and has four different areas appropriately named with a Scottish flavour as Clan, Castle, Mountain and Loch.
Ensuring the smooth operating of a Games village is a mammoth logistical task, requiring precision planning.
In food terms alone more than 390,000 village meals will be served with more than 2,000 different menu items including 11,600 kg of mushrooms, 10,000 kg of garlic and 500,000 pieces of fruit.
Village-Web3.jpgAlso expected to be used are:
· 30,000 towels
· 26,000 bed sheets
· 20,000 toilet rolls
· 100,000 bin liners
· 1,400 litres of soap
After the Games, the Athletes’ Village will leave a lasting legacy for the people of Glasgow as 700 homes will be available – 300 for private sale and 400 affordable houses for rental.
Elinor Middlemiss, Team Scotland’s General Team Manager, said: “It is fantastic to see the Athletes’ Village taking shape with a year still to go until the Games. The Village is the heartbeat of every Games, providing that important home from home for all the athletes as they prepare for one of the most important performances of their lives, as well as providing a base for Team Scotland operations. The low-rise accommodation will work well, there are good public spaces and the proximity to most of the venues and the city centre is ideal.
“There has been a lot of input so far from our athletes into the Village planning process and we will continue to work closely with the Organising Committee to ensure that when it opens in one year’s time, it offers the best possible athlete experience.”
David Grevemberg, Chief Executive of Glasgow 2014, said: “We want the athletes who come for the Games to have the best possible experience and the Games Village is a crucial part of that. With one year to go until the athletes arrive, the site is already 85% complete which is a really positive message.”