As Team Scotland aim for its most successful ever overseas Commonwealth Games, preparations for Gold Coast 2018 continue in earnest with the appointment of the General Team Managers, Team Camp and ‘Achieve’ programme personnel.

Euan Burton, flag bearer and judo gold medallist at Glasgow 2014, returns to Team Scotland as one of four General Team Managers who will lead the key areas of operational activity in the build up to and during Gold Coast 2018. He is joined by 2002 Team Scotland judo medallist David Somerville, who brings over 25 years of experience of multi-sport environments as athlete, coach and management across Olympics, Paralympics, and Commonwealth Games. Leslie Roy has Games management experience stretching back to 2002 and, leading on transport and logistics, will carry out a similar role to her responsibilities at Glasgow 2014, while Jennifer Livingstone, a new appointment to Team Scotland, offers a wealth of experience in para-sport, including involvement in multi-sport events such as the CPISRA World Games.

Vital to final preparations before the Gold Coast Games begin, will be the Team Scotland Camp, Australia, providing a home from home environment for the athletes as they adjust to the travel, culture and climate and the unique multi-sport environment.

Appointed as Team Camp Director, Stuart Turner, alongside an experienced team of three Team Camp Managers Aileen McGillivary, Irene Riach and Vicky Strange, will be responsible for the overall leadership, inspiration and unity of the team in this final phase of preparation. Working with all 18 sports on the Gold Coast programme, they will create and deliver a high performance environment in Australia, bringing individuals and sports together as one Team Scotland.

Stuart, Head of EventScotland, has proven success from his involvement in the Team GB holding camp prior to Sydney Olympic Games and as Director of the Team Scotland camp in 2006 prior to the Melbourne Games, while Vicky, Irene and Aileen bring a wealth of experience from their current work in performance sport and previous roles with Commonwealth Games Scotland and Glasgow 2014.

Commonwealth Games Scotland is also proud to announce the continuation of the ‘Achieve’ programme for a third successive Games. Aspiring young athletes and coaches will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience Gold Coast 2018 as part of a structured learning and development programme in preparation for their participation in future major sporting events, including Commonwealth Youth Games and Commonwealth Games.

For Gold Coast, this programme will be led jointly by Achieve Directors Mary McClung and Scott Forrest, both former international athletes, who were also involved in this programme during the Glasgow 2014 Games. Together they aim to develop and deliver the best ever Achieve programme, bringing huge experience from their daily work with Scotland’s best athletes as Performance Lifestyle Advisers within the sportscotland Institute of Sport.

Team Scotland Chef De Mission, Jon Doig said: “We are absolutely delighted with the calibre of appointments we have made for Team Scotland at Gold Coast 2018. They all bring extensive experience as former athletes, managers and coaches across a wide range of sports and from numerous multi-sport events.

“We now begin 18 months of planning and preparation with an exciting blend of returning staff and those stepping into new roles for these Games, as we aim to deliver Team Scotland’s best ever overseas performance.”

Many of the new team announced today will join other key Team Scotland personnel on a visit to Gold Coast later this month, to start the detailed planning process and meet with Organising Committee colleagues.