Elsewhere on day ten…
POWERLIFTING
Micky Yule took to the platform at the Clyde Auditorium in the heavyweight category of the Para-Sport Powerlifting competition. 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 Powerlifting 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.
“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.”
Up against some strong opposition, Micky lifted 172.9kg to finish in 4th place. With Para-Sport Powerlifting making its debut in Glasgow, Yule is the first Powerlifter to represent Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.
DIVING
Despite not having had the best preparation going into the event, Grace Reid finished a very creditable 9th in the final of the 3m Springboard at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh. Her score of 297.50 was a big improvement on the morning’s heats and close to her personal best. Gold went to Esther Qin of Australia, Silver to Jennifer Abel of Canada and England’s Hannah Starling picked up Bronze.
Having suffered a shoulder subluxation back in April, Reid only managed to start training for the event in May and has not been able to prepare or practice as much as she would have liked on the 3m board. However, she put in a solid set of five dives, in particular her Front 2½ Somersault 1 Twist, Piked and her Reverse 2½ Somersault, Tucked dives, where she scored 63.00 and 60.20 points respectively.
Edging ever closer to her personal best Reid was satisfied with the result, saying: “I’m super chuffed with that, I really wasn’t sure how I’d go, having been injured. The past four years I’ve been up and down with bad performances, my confidence had taken a knock and I was at a low in this event. But I’ve managed to come out here and I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed every single performance I’ve done, and that to me was the biggest goal I could have set myself and achieved.
“I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, the crowd have been wonderful. I was breathing so heavily before my last dive but the crowd just lifted me and put me at ease, which really helped me feel at home.”
The Diving programme concluded today.
Photo Credit: Jeff Holmes