As part of Team Scotland’s sport focus on Aquatics, the University of Stirling’s Richard Haynes dips into the Commonwealth Games Scotland archives for the story behind Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth Games diver and his journey to his first gold medal at the Auckland 1950 Games:
Sir Peter Heatly is one of Team Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth competitors, winning gold medals for Diving in three consecutive Games in Auckland (1950), Vancouver (1954) and Cardiff (1958) as well as bronze and silver medals. His story in sport is captured in his personal archives given by his family to the University of Stirling archives following his death in 2015. His early years in Diving and the journey to his first British Empire Games gold medal in Auckland 1950 is captured within his scrapbooks and photograph albums, which provide a fascinating insight in to one of Scotland’s all-time great Commonwealth Games champions and administrators.
Born in to a prodigious Swimming family in Leith in June 1924, Heatly seemed destined for success in the pool from an early age. He was inspired to pursue Diving after being taken by his father to see an exhibition by the 1928 Olympic diving champion, American Pete Desjardins, at The Pond in Port Seton. Inspired by what he saw, he joined Leith Swimming Club, then subsequently Portobello Swimming Club, and dived at Portobello Open Air Pool, which had opened in 1936 at a cost of £80,000, at that time the largest pool in Europe. The lido included a ten-metre diving platform and Heatly soon displayed his talent for the sport, winning the Eastern Counties diving championship in 1937, aged just 12. He would hold this title for three consecutive years until the competition was suspended at the outbreak of war. He was also a talented swimmer, between 1943 and 1948 he won every Scottish Free-style championship from 50 to 880 yards and set Scottish records from 440 to 1000 yards, which led the Edinburgh Evening Times to proclaim: ‘For his age Heatly is, perhaps, the best all-round swimmer in Scotland, if not Britain’.
In the 1930s Diving was a relatively new sport in Scotland. With little coaching available Heatly was self-taught, according to another report in the Edinburgh Evening Times learning ‘his dives from a book by photographing in his mind like a cine-camera record, consecutive pictures and descriptions of each highboard dive’. His diving came to wider public notoriety when he won his first Scottish diving titles for ‘graceful diving’ and Springboard in 1946, titles he kept for twelve successive years. In 1947 Heatly impressed at the Amateur Swimming Association event in New Brighton beating the then British Springboard champion Charles Johnson, and was soon invited to train with other British divers in Portsmouth, going on to compete internationally in Monte Carlo and Holland. Heatly won the British Springboard title in 1948 ahead of representing Britain in Springboard and Highboard competitions at the 1948 Olympic Games in London.
Prior to selection for the Scotland team for the Auckland Games announced in autumn 1949, Heatly had maintained his British titles in the Highboard, the 3m Springboard, and the 1m board Pete Desjardens trophy. He therefore left for New Zealand in ebullient mood. An eighteen-strong Scotland team – accompanied by team manager Colonel Dougie Usher and his wife acting as female chaperone – left the port of Southampton on 16th December 1949. Travelling in the S.S. Tamaroa, on the Shaw Saville and Albion Line, it was a five-week journey to Auckland, stopping off to refuel in the port of Willemstad on Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao, before travelling through the Panama Canal on Christmas Day, with another stopover in Panama City, before heading south across the Pacific to New Zealand.
Heatly’s photograph album of the journey provides amazing snapshots of the Scotland and other British teams on board the steamship, including the 18×12 feet ‘swimming pool’ made from wooden planks and tarpaulin for the swimmers to practice their leg kicks and turns, but little else. Scotland had sent three female swimmers – Margaret Girvan, Elizabeth Turner and 16-year-old Helen Orr ‘Eleanor’ Gordon who went on to win gold in the 220 yards Breaststroke – as well as Albert Kinnear who, as a P.E. instructor, ran physical training classes on the deck to keep the team in good shape. Kinnear would capture a bronze medal in the 110 yards Backstroke. Heatly himself used a steel girder on which to hang and practice his diving tucks and maintain his upper-body strength, but it would not be until the short stopovers in Curaçao and Panama that he could practice his diving effectively.
5000 local residents welcomed the Scotland team as they arrived at the port in Auckland, and as the team stepped off the gangway they were greeted by a dozen Māori women performing a Haka. As the team travelled to the Athletes Camp in Ardmore, situated 23 miles outside Auckland, they received further welcome on crowded streets from New Zealanders including a Caledonian pipe band keen to extend their hospitality to what they still considered the ‘home’ British nations. In 1950 more than 60% of immigrants to New Zealand were British, a high percentage of them Scots. Indeed, boxing coach Ken Shaw, a former Scottish heavyweight champion, used the opportunity of travelling to New Zealand to emigrate to the country.
Heatly trained twice a day at the Newmarket Pool in Auckland, which accommodated 5000 spectators in its open-air arena. The official report of the Games recalls the divers ‘trained from six to eight hours daily, undeterred by sunburn, cracked lips and peeling noses.’ However, in his report to the Scottish National Sports Federation, the forerunner to Commonwealth Games Scotland, Heatly noted the depth of the pool designated to diving didn’t quite reach international standards. ‘Consequently’, he wrote, ‘in executing certain dives, the point of entry into the water is made at places where the depth is below the limits of safety.’ Regardless, Heatly’s diving from the highboard, against his main rival George Athans of Canada, was imperious and he comfortably won the gold medal with a combined score of 156.07. In the 3m Springboard the tables were turned as Heatly flunked his final dive to enable the Canadian victory by 0.41 points, the smallest of margins.
The hosts New Zealand had entered five divers in to the men and women’s competitions ‘all capable of executing dives of the standard required for international competition’. Heatly lamented the state of Scottish diving which at this time persisted with the concept of ‘Graceful Diving’, unfashionable internationally, and concluded: ‘Until such time as these events are erased from the list of Scottish Championships, Diving in Scotland will continue to remain in its primitive state.’
Sir Peter did more than anyone to modernise Diving in Scotland, going on to compete in two further Commonwealth Games as well as the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. He subsequently became Team Manager in the 1960s and was integral to the delivery of the first Commonwealth Games held in Scotland in 1970, employing his knowledge of pool engineering to assist the design of the Edinburgh Commonwealth Pool. The pinnacle of his administrative career in sport came as Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation between 1982 to 1990. In his albums, scrapbooks and assorted collection of official Team Scotland blazers, ties and ephemera, Heatly has left a remarkable archival legacy of Scotland’s participation in the Games. The family heritage in aquatic competition was passed on to his grandson, James Heatly, who dived for Scotland in the 2014 and 2018 Games. James’s bronze in the 1m Springboard in Gold Coast was Scotland’s first Diving medal since his grandfather 60 years previously.
Team Scotland Gold Coast 2018 medallists and rising stars are aiming for medals and major championships places as the British Swimming Championship kick off in today (Tuesday 16 April) at Glasgow’s Tollcross International Swimming Centre. The venue for Glasgow 2014 and last summer’s European Championships, Tollcross plays host to six days of intense competition, with Scottish swimmers set to be right in the mix.
The opening day of action will see local heroes Ross Murdoch and Craig Benson set their sights on a podium place in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke, battling it out with world record holder Adam Peaty and European silver medallist James Wilby in a strong field.
Day one also includes the Women’s 400m Individual Medley, where Hannah Miley will go head to head with Aimee Wilmott in a rematch between the Gold Coast 2018 gold and silver medallists. With Wilmott just getting the touch for gold to deny Miley a third straight Commonwealth title, the latter will be looking to be back at her best following ankle surgery at the end of last summer.
Many of Scotland’s Gold Coast 2018 stars are in action with names such as Stephen Milne in the Men’s 400m Freestyle, Lucy Hope in the Women’s 200m Freestyle and Craig McNally in the Men’s 50m Backstroke in action on the first day.
After an outstanding 2018 which saw him win six medals at Gold Coast 2018, becoming Scotland’s most decorated athlete at a single Commonwealth Games, as well as three gold and one silver medal at the European Championships, Duncan Scott is back to fight for national honours and, crucially, a place at July’s World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. The end of a packed programme will see him go head to head with 2015 World Champion James Guy in the Men’s 200m Freestyle on the final day of competition.
With the Championships doubling up as a selection meet for the World Championships in Gwangju as well as the European Juniors, European Youth Olympic Festival, World Juniors and World University Games, there is a lot of stake across all age groups and Scotland’s rising stars will look to make their mark alongside the established names.
A limited number of tickets are still available on the door at the venue but if you can’t make it along to Tollcross you can follow all the action on the live stream or live results.
As Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth Games sport, with 94 medals won in Swimming, Synchronised Swimming and Diving, choosing just five ‘top’ Games is a hard task. From the highest number of medals won to outstanding individual performances, here are just some of the highlights from nearly 90 years of Team Scotland participation in the pool.
Melbourne 2006 – Gold Rush and Highest Medal Tally
The Melbourne Sports & Aquatics Centre was the magnificent backdrop for the historic performances that unfolded in the pool. With an amazing double gold triumph on the first night from Caitlin McClatchey and David Carry, the swimmers grew in confidence to take on the Aussies in their home pool.
Winning 12 medals – 6 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze – Swimming became Scotland’s most successful sport in Commonwealth Games history, a title held until Judo’s 13-medal haul at Glasgow 2014. A superb overall team effort with 11 swimmers winning medals, their success was built on the performances of their three double gold medallists, Caitlin McClatchey, David Carry and Gregor Tait. With a further two bronze medals to his tally Gregor was the Scottish swimmer of the meet and the top Scot of the Games.
Kirsty Balfour was a double medallist, following up silver in the 200m Breaststroke with bronze in the 100m event, while Euan Dale also stepped onto the podium twice with silver in both the 400m Individual Medley and as part of the 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay alongside David Carry, Andy Hunter and Robbie Renwick.
Glasgow 2014 – Home Games Success
The action at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre got underway on day one of the Games and, from the outset, Scotland’s swimmers were on top form and added to the team’s early gold rush. First up, Hannah Miley retained her title as Commonwealth Games champion in the 400m Individual Medley, an impressive feat and the only Scottish athlete to do so in any sport. She added a bronze in the 200m Individual Medley later in the week. Within minutes of Miley collecting her gold, there was the first surprise of the night when 20 year old Ross Murdoch beat hometown favourite and fellow Scot, Michael Jamieson into second place in the 200m Breaststroke in a new Games record. The expression on Ross’s face said it all! Murdoch went on two days later to collect a bronze in the 100m Breaststroke to confirm his arrival on the world stage.
A third gold in the pool came from Dan Wallace on day two in the men’s 400m Individual Medley and he went on to pick up a further two silver medals in the 200m Individual Medley and as part of the men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay team, to finish as the top Scottish swimmer of the Games.
But the darling of the pool was Shetland’s Erraid Davies, who at 13 years old was Team Scotland’s youngest ever team member and now medallist, winning bronze in the Para-Sport SB9 100m Breaststroke. Erraid’s beaming smile was a Games highlight that trended worldwide on Twitter and will be remembered for many years to come.
Other Swimming medallists included Corrie Scott in the women’s 50m Breaststroke and the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay team of Stephen Milne, Robbie Renwick, Duncan Scott & Dan Wallace, with Jak Scott, Gareth Mills, Cameron Brodie & Craig Hamilton ensuring the team cruised through the heats. This was the third successive Games where Scotland has taken silver in this event. Swimming won a total of 10 medals: 3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze to take Aquatics’ overall Commonwealth Games medal tally to an impressive 83 (including 23 gold), more than any other Scottish sport at the Games.
Over in Edinburgh at the Royal Commonwealth Pool, Scotland’s two divers Grace Reid and James Heatly acquitted themselves well, both setting new personal bests in the heats and finals of the 1m and 3m Springboard events.
Vancouver 1954 – Making Up More Than Half the Medal Tally
Aquatics won seven medals in Vancouver including three gold. Impressively this was more than half of the Scottish team’s total of 13 medals across all sports.
Elenor Gordon successfully defended her 220yds Breaststroke title having first won gold four years previously in Auckland. She won in a new Games record time of 2 minutes 59.2 seconds. Peter Heatly had victories with a gold in the 3m Springboard and a bronze in the 10m Platform to add to the gold and silver he had won in 1950. But the glory of the Games for Scotland was the triumph of the Women’s 3x 110 yards Medley Relay team. Elenor Gordon, Margaret Girvan and Margaret McDowall won in a new Games record time of 3 mins 51 secs to upset the traditional order. Victory against the swimming might of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and England had seemed too much to hope for.
There was a further medal for Margaret Girvan as she took bronze in the 440 yards Freestyle, while John Wardrop was also a double medallist with silver in the 440 yards Freestyle before teaming up with twin brother Robert and John Service to win bronze in the 330 yards Medley Relay.
Christchurch 1974 – Double Gold for Wilkie
David Wilkie won two gold & a silver in Christchurch, a tally not bettered by a swimmer until Gregor Tait in 2006. Two years later Wilkie would go on to win Olympic gold in World Record time, a record that remained unbroken for six years. He would go on to become the only swimmer ever to hold British, American, European, Commonwealth, World and Olympic titles at the same time.
Kim Wickham and Sandra Dickie were the other individual medallists in Christchurch, Wickham winning silver in the 100m Butterfly and Dickie bronze in the 100m Breaststroke, with both also part of the medal winning Medley Relay.
Television viewers could watch all the Swimming action unfold in colour for the first time, one of three sports (the others Athletics and Boxing) to be broadcast in colour as the Games marked the introduction of colour television to New Zealand.
Hamilton 1930 – Swimmers Shine at First Commonwealth Games
Aquatics was one of only six sports contested in Hamilton and the only sport open to women at those first Games. There was no gold in the pool for Scotland, but the team did manage to collect two silver and three bronze medals from just five swimmers.
Twice Olympic silver medallist and World record holder, Ellen King was the star of the pool for Scotland with one silver and two bronze medals. She took second in the 100 yards Freestyle, bronze in the 200 yards Breaststroke and her third medal as part of the bronze medal winning 4 x 100 yards Freestyle Relay. Cissie Stewart, also part of that Relay team, took bronze in the 400 yards Freestyle, while Scotland’s only male swimmer at these Games, William Francis, took silver in the 100 yards Backstroke.
Training on the long sea voyage to Canada was to prove difficult. The ship did not have a swimming pool but the captain ordered a huge tarpaulin to be swung between two booms on the deck and filled with sea water. It gave the swimmers about 20 feet of length in which to practise. Also popular was the punch ball brought by a member of the athletics team. Ellen King was particularly enthusiastic and was presented with her own punch ball by her team mates at the end of the journey!
While Fencing has not been included in the Commonwealth Games since 1970, it was one of Scotland’s most successful sports during its 20 years in the Games. This success has continued with Scottish fencers making their mark on the global stage, including at the Commonwealth Championships. To round off our ‘Celebrating Our Past, Building Our Future’ Sport Focus, here are 12 things you might not know about the sport:
1. There are three disciplines within Fencing – Foil, Epee and Sabre – which all have different rules and scoring areas.
2. Fencing was first included in the Commonwealth Games in 1950 and was included in every Games over a 20 year period, with Edinburgh 1970 the last Games for Fencing to date. Scottish fencers won a total of eight Commonwealth Games medals over this time: two gold, four silver and two bronze.
3. Alexander (Sandy) Leckie is Scotland’s top Commonwealth Games fencer with two gold and two silver medals between 1962 and 1970. He remains Scotland’s only Commonwealth Games fencing gold medallist. He also competed at three Olympic Games, making the last 16 in 1968.
4. Since the change of Fencing from a core sport to an optional sport at the Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth Fencing Championships have been held every four years on the same cycle as the Commonwealth Games.
5. Scottish fencers have continued to enjoy medal success, winning 10 gold, 25 silver and 33 bronze since the Championships began in 1974.
6. Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth Championships to date was in 2014 where the team won 11 medals including three gold: Jamie Fitzgerald in Men’s Foil, Georgina Usher in Women’s Epee and the Women’s Sabre team of Alice Watson, Jennifer Sancroft, Michelle Guarino, Kate Daykin and Jessica Corby.
7. Fencing is one of only five sports to be included at every Olympic Games since 1896, the others are Swimming, Cycling, Athletics and Gymnastics.
8. Women have competed in Fencing at the Olympic Games since 1924, with Foil originally the only weapon available. Women’s Epee was introduced at the 1996 Atlanta Games and Sabre not until Athens 2004.
9. The first international Wheelchair Fencing tournament took place in the 1950s and the sport has been a part of the Paralympic Games since 1960. All three disciplines are contested.
10. There was originally no time limit on a fencing bout, until a Masters Championship bout in New York in the 1930s lasted for seven hours. Thereafter, bouts were limited to 30 minutes. Today, the time-limit has been reduced to just 3 minutes for 5-touch bouts and 9 minutes for 15 touches.
11. Fencers wear white uniforms because before the advent of electronic scoring, touches were recorded on the white surface with a wad of ink-soaked cotton on the tips of the weapons. Electronic scoring was first introduced in 1935 for Epee, 1955 for Foil and was first used at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games for Sabre.
12. In February 2019 the French Fencing Federation recognised lightsabre duelling as an official sport for the first time.
Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth Games fencer, Alexander Leckie (known as Sandy) won two gold and two silver medals for Scotland over three successive Games. Born in Watford to two proud Scottish parents – his father from Hamilton and his mother from New Pitsligo in Aberdeenshire – he never felt anything other than Scottish. His brother George however opted to compete for England and the pair did not hold back when it came to international competition!
Sandy was a member of Scotland’s first full team of fencers at the Cardiff 1958, but it was four years later in Perth that he really made his mark. He had already made the first of his three Olympic appearances, as Great Britain’s youngest fencer at the Rome 1960 Games, by the time he took to the piste in Perth and he came into the Games as the favourite for the Men’s Individual Foil title. He delivered on that billing, winning Scotland’s first and only Fencing gold to date and taking the title ahead of 1959 World Foil champion Allan Jay to become the first fencer from outside England ever to win this event.
His hopes of retaining his Foil title were dashed however, when he sustained a bad gash on his knee during a preliminary round of the competition. Characteristically Leckie chose to ignore his wound and the following week, with stitches still in his knee and his leg heavily strapped, he competed in the individual Sabre event. His injury slowed him down badly, but remarkably he still managed to win silver to become the first Scottish fencer ever to take a second Commonwealth medal.
Chosen as Scotland’s Opening Ceremony flag bearer for the Edinburgh 1970 Games, he was determined to give a captain’s performance. He did just that, putting himself back on the top step of podium with gold in the Individual Sabre event. Having reached the final pool of six fencers, he showed his mastery of the sport by winning every single one of his contests to take overall victory.
He completed his medal haul with silver in the Sabre Team Event alongside Gordon Wiles and Anthony Mitchell. With two gold and two silver medals he is Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth Games fencer, contributing exactly half of the sport’s medal tally in its 20 year inclusion in the Games.
Eight times British Champion, with three titles in Foil and five in Sabre, Sandy competed in individual and team sabre at three consecutive Olympic Games: Rome in 1960; Tokyo in 1964 where he also contested individual and team foil; and Mexico City in 1968. His best result came in his last Games where he finished 7th in the Men’s Sabre Team Event.
Sandy’s involvement with the Commonwealth Games did not end with his competitive career. He was again part of the Games in Edinburgh in 1986 as part of the final stage of the Queen’s Baton Relay, running into the stadium behind baton bearer Allan Wells. Glasgow 2014 once again saw him carrying the Queen’s Baton, this time through Aberdeenshire where he spent part of his childhood.
Scottish Fencing has a proud history at the Commonwealth Games, regularly contributing to Team Scotland’s medal tally during the sport’s 20 year inclusion on the programme. From ranking as Scotland’s second most successful sport behind Athletics at Edinburgh 1970 to historic first performances, here are just some of the highlights of Scotland’s participation in Commonwealth Games Fencing.
Perth 1962 – Scotland’s First Fencing Gold
Fencing made its Games debut in 1950 where Scotland was represented by just one man – Colonel Usher in the Epee event. Subsequent Games saw the team grow in number, including women for the first time in 1958. By 1962 Scotland had a star in Sandy Leckie, a member of that 1958 team and already an Olympian by the time he took to the piste in Perth. He came into the Games as the favourite for the Men’s Individual Foil title and delivered on that billing, winning Scotland’s first and only Fencing gold to date.
Leckie took the title ahead of 1959 World Foil champion Allan Jay to become the first fencer from outside England ever to win this event. Three medals over the next two Games make him Scotland’s top Games fencer of all time. J. A. King was Scotland’s other representative at these Games, finishing 8th in the Individual Epee event with two wins to his credit.
Kingston 1966 – First Fencing Repeat Medallist
Leckie’s hopes of retaining his Foil title were dashed when he sustained a bad gash on his right knee during a preliminary round of the competition. Characteristically Leckie chose to ignore his wound and the following week, with stitches still in his knee and his leg heavily strapped, he competed in the individual Sabre event. His injury slowed him down badly, but remarkably he still managed to win a silver medal to become Scotland’s first repeat medallist in the sport. Scotland also took bronze in the Men’s Foil Team Event. The team of George Sandor, Joseph Rorke and Robert Wilson finished behind England and Australia to win Scottish Fencing’s first ever team event medal. The same trio narrowly missed out on a second medal in the Epee Team Event, finishing 4th, while Leckie teamed up with Sandor and Wilson for a 5th place finish in the Sabre Team Event.
Edinburgh 1970 – Highest Medal Count
With a total of five medals, Edinburgh 1970 was by far the most successful Games for Scottish fencers. Sandy Leckie was again on the podium, once more returning to the top step. Fencing in front of a passionate home crowd he won gold in the Individual Sabre event with a series of superb performances. Having reached the final pool of six fencers, he showed his mastery of the sport by winning every single one of his contests to take overall victory.
Scotland also won three team silver medals, one coming from Leckie alongside Gordon Wiles and Anthony Mitchell in the Sabre event, the second from the Men’s Epee team of Derek Russell, George Sandor and Ian Hunter and the third from the Women’s Foil team of Judith Bain, Susan Youngs and Barbara Williams. Susan Youngs also took bronze in the Individual Foil to become Scotland’s first and only female individual medallist at the Commonwealth Games.
These of course are just some of the highlights across the 20 years of Fencing’s involvement at the Commonwealth Games. Since 1974, and the advent of the Commonwealth Fencing Championships, Scotland have gone on to further medal success with a total of 68 medals, 10 of them gold.
Click to see Team Scotland’s full Fencing medal record at the Commonwealth Games.
While Table Tennis has only been a Commonwealth Games sport since 2002, Scottish success on the global stage and at the Commonwealth Championships goes back much further. To round off our ‘Celebrating Our Past, Building Our Future’ Sport Focus, here are 12 things you might not know about the sport:
1. Table Tennis first appeared on the Commonwealth Games programme at Manchester 2002 and has appeared at each Games since. Originally optional, it has now been made a core sport. It has also made one appearance at the Commonwealth Youth Games – in 2008 in Pune, India.
2. Singapore top the all-time Commonwealth Games Table Tennis medal table with an incredible 50 medals from five Games. They were the top nation in Table Tennis at every Games until Gold Coast 2018 when India pipped them to that title.
3. Scotland have won three medals at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships: Men’s Singles bronze for Richard Yule in 1973, Women’s Team bronze in 1989 and Men’s Team bronze in 2013, but have yet to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games.
4. The Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships began in 1971 and Scotland has hosted the event three times. First in 1979 at Edinburgh’s Meadowbank Sports Centre and twice in Glasgow: Kelvin Hall in 1997 and Scotstoun in 2009.
5. Helen Hamilton (nee Elliott) can lay claim to the title of Scotland’s most successful Table Tennis player with seven World Championship medals, including two gold, and 13 consecutive Scottish Open Women’s Singles titles between 1946 and 1958.
6. Table Tennis originated in Victorian England and has been known as whiff-whaff, flim-flam, punch ball, pim-pam and gossima.
7. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) was formed in 1926 and now has 226 member associations. It has been an Olympic sport since 1988.
8. The size of the ball was changed from 38mm to 40mm after the 2000 Olympic Games so that spectators could see the ball clearly on TV, effectively slowing the game down.
9. Table Tennis is the most popular indoor sport in the world with over 10 million players competing in sanctioned tournaments each year.
10. Despite Table Tennis sometime being referred to as Ping-Pong, Ping-Pong is actually a different sport. One major difference is that while Table Tennis bats have rubber on them, Ping-Pong bats have sandpaper instead.
11. Table Tennis balls are not actually hollow- they are pressurised with gas inside.
12. The Soviet Union banned the sport from 1930 to 1950 as they declared it was harmful to the eyes!
Team Scotland has a proud history in Boxing at the Commonwealth Games with our boxers winning medals at every Games to date. To round off our ‘Celebrating Our Past, Building Our Future’ Sport Focus, here are 12 things you might not know about Boxing and the Commonwealth Games:
1. Boxing was one of six sports included at the first Commonwealth Games (then known as the British Empire Games) in 1930 and, as a core sport, must be included at every Games.
2. Boxing is the only sport in which Scotland have won medals at every Commonwealth Games. Scottish boxers have also won medals at every Youth Games where the sport has been included.
3. Scotland have won 65 Boxing medals at the Commonwealth Games; 17 gold, 16 silver and 32 bronze. This medal tally places Scotland 4th on the all-time Boxing medal table, just one gold medal behind Australia.
4. There is a three way tie for the title of Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth Games boxer; Josh Taylor, Tom Imrie and Dick McTaggart each won one gold and one silver medal.
5. Alongside his two Commonwealth games medals, Dick McTaggart took European Championship gold, became the first British boxer ever to compete at three Olympic Games and remains Scotland’s only Olympic boxing champion to date.
6. After winning Commonwealth Games gold at Kuala Lumpur 1998, Alex Arthur went on to win eight professional titles, including British, Commonwealth and European Super Featherweight belts and became WBO World Super-Featherweight Champion in 2007.
7. Glasgow 2014 gold medallists Josh Taylor and Charlie Flynn both won medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games before stepping up to senior competition.
8. John Docherty and Sean Lazzerini became the first Scottish boxers in history to win gold at the Commonwealth Youth Games at Samoa 2015 and both were selected for Gold Coast 2018 with John winning bronze.
9. Women’s Boxing was first included as a demonstration event at the 1904 Olympic Games. It was over a century before it was back on the programme as a full Olympic medal sport for the London 2012 Games.
10. Women’s Boxing events were included in the Commonwealth Games for the first time at the Glasgow 2014 Games. The first female boxers to compete for Team Scotland at a senior Commonwealth Games were Vicky Glover and Megan Gordon, both 18 years old when they competed at Gold Coast 2018. Nine months before making her senior Games debut, Megan Gordon was also Scotland’s first female boxer at the Commonwealth Youth Games, winning bronze at the Bahamas 2017 Games.
11. A Boxing bout consists of three rounds of three minutes for both women and men.
12. Head guards were first introduced in 1984 and were required for all amateur bouts until 2013, when they were dropped for senior male boxers. Female boxers and male boxers below senior level are still required to wear a head guard.
Find out more about the sport in the Commonwealth Games on our dedicated Boxing page and look out for our next sport focus as we profile each of the 25 sports in which Scotland has competed at the Commonwealth Games.
With medals at the European Junior Championships in 2016, Commonwealth Youth Games in 2017 and European Youth Championships in 2018, Dundee boxer Sam Hickey is making a name for himself as a major championship performer, as he looks to follow in the footsteps of some of Scotland’s boxing greats.
Making the step up to senior level this year, he will be buoyed by a hugely successful 2018 which, alongside European Championship bronze, saw him take bronze at the prestigious Golden Glove tournament in Serbia, represent Scotland at the World Youth Championships and lift the British title for the first time in his career.
“2018 was a very good year for me,” he said. “Winning the medal at the Europeans is up there as one of the best moments, but my personal highlight of the year, that I am most proud of, was the British gold medal. It meant a lot to me as the championships were in Scotland this year and it was the first time I had won the GB title. I felt like I had been very unlucky not to win it over the years and that all the hard work in the gym was starting to pay off.”
“Training is going well and over the next year I would like to win my first Scottish senior title and establish myself as the best elite boxer in Scotland. I also want to win medals at multi-nation tournaments around the world.”
Sam’s ambitions don’t stop at 2019 and he’s keen to make a return to the Commonwealth Games as a senior, having tasted medal success at the Bahamas 2017 Youth Games on his debut for Team Scotland.
“Birmingham 2022 is definitely in my plans and I am doing my best to make sure I am going to the Games,” he said. “The Commonwealth Youth Games was a great experience. Representing Team Scotland was amazing and something I will never forget. I really enjoyed it as it wasn’t just boxing, there were loads of other sports to go and watch. The whole atmosphere of the Youth Games was brilliant and it’s really made me set my eyes on making sure I am going to be at the next Games come 2022.”
A further boost to his goals has come in the form of a PHM Athlete Award via the Team Scotland Youth Trust. The fund provides awards of up to £1,000 to athletes under the age of 26, to assist with their preparation for significant major events including the Commonwealth Games and Sam is encouraged, both by the financial support and by the recognition in receiving the award.
“Receiving PHM Athlete Award support means a lot to me, especially as there are a lot of other top athletes out there. To be in this group of people who received funding gives me a little boost of confidence in itself. It’s going to help with a lot of things financially, especially travel expenses and my strength and conditioning. It will just make everything that little bit easier and take a lot of pressure off my shoulders and it has given me another boost to get the head down and get ready for the seniors in 2019.”
Team Scotland boxers have an impressive track record and Boxing Scotland Head Coach for the past three Commonwealth Games, Mike Keane, rates Sam’s chances of reaching his goals:
“Sam is one of our best prospects at the moment, demonstrating his skills at major events and winning bouts in both domestic and international competition. He qualified for last year’s World Championships where he lost out on a split decision, but performed well in what is one of the biggest competitions he can attend. He’s definitely one to look out for as a potential for Birmingham 2022.”
Team Scotland boxers have such a fantastic record at the Commonwealth Games that choosing just five ‘top’ Games is a hard task. From the highest number of medals won to performances that ended long waits for Scottish gold, here are just some of the highlights of Scotland’s participation in Commonwealth Games Boxing.
Cardiff 1958 – Boxing’s Best Ever Games
Six medals, including gold for Dick McTaggart and Jackie Brown, make Cardiff 1958 Scotland’s top Boxing performance to date. In fact Boxing contributed the most medals of any sport to the Scottish medal tally in Cardiff, almost half of the total 13 medals won. Jackie Brown took the Flyweight title, the third Scottish boxer in as many Games to do so, while reigning Olympic Champion Dick McTaggart performed to expectations to take Lightweight gold, never looking troubled by his final opponent James Jordan of Northern Ireland.
Robert Kane took silver, beaten in the Light Welterweight final by Olympic bronze medallist Henry Loubscher of South Africa, while Alfred Owen (Bantamweight), Robert Scott (Welterweight) and William Bannon (Light Heavyweight) took bronze.
Edinburgh 1986 – Highest Ever Boxing Medal Tally
Seven medals from the 10 boxers selected – three silver & four bronze – gave Scotland their top boxing medal tally in history. The only thing missing was a gold, the unluckiest boxers probably being Jim McAllister, taking Welterweight silver after retiring after a cut and Dougie Young, who was well ahead on points before being caught by New Zealand’s Jimmy Peau with a desperate punch 32 seconds from the end of the Heavyweight final.
Harry Lawson took silver in the Light Heavyweight, while Scotland’s four bronze medals came from Glen Brooks (Bantamweight), Wilson Docherty (Light Flyweight), George Ferrie (Middleweight) and Alec Mullen (Light Middleweight).
Perth 1962 – McTaggart Takes Second Medal
For the fourth consecutive Games, Scotland won two Boxing gold medals as John McDermott took the Featherweight title and Robert Mallon upheld a 12 year run of keeping the Flyweight title in Scottish hands. Defending Lightweight champion Dick McTaggart had to settle for silver on this occasion as he moved up to Light Welterweight, defeated in the final by Ghana’s first Olympic medallist Clement Quartey.
With this silver in addition to his 1958 gold, McTaggart became the first Scottish boxer ever to win two Commonwealth Games medals and he remains Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth Games boxer alongside Thomas Imrie and Josh Taylor. Rounding out the 1962 medal count was Thomas Menzies, bronze medallist in the Light Heavyweight event.
Glasgow 2014 – Home Games Success
The early rounds of the Boxing competition were held at the SECC and after a busy week in the ring, Scotland’s boxers secured four places in the semi-finals and were guaranteed four medals. Reece McFadden (52kg), who had taken out the World number 1 from Wales in his opening bout of the competition, had to settle for bronze in the Flyweight category after losing out in a split decision to Andrew Moloney of Australia. There was a bronze too for Heavyweight, Stephen Lavelle (91kg) who battled hard but came up just short against David Light of New Zealand.
But Delhi Silver medallist, Josh Taylor, and larger than life character, Charlie Flynn, made it all the way to the finals. There was a change of venue for the big occasion to the fabulous SSE Hydro Arena, packed with 10,000 fans determined to witness more Scottish success. Postal worker Charlie Flynn delivered in style and took Scotland to the 50 medal mark with boxing’s first gold of the Games in the 60kg Lightweight division, while Josh Taylor (64kg) completed his set of Commonwealth medals, adding gold to his Youth Games bronze in 2008 and silver in Delhi two years later. The final medal tally of two gold and two bronze was the best result for the sport since 1962.
Auckland 1950 – First Scottish Boxing Gold for 20 Years
Only two Boxing medals but both gold. Henry Gililand and Hugh Riley end Scotland’s 20 year wait for a Commonwealth Games champion. Scotland had last struck Boxing gold at the first Commonwealth Games ever held in 1930 as Jim Rolland took the Lightweight title. While Scottish boxers continued to pick up medals at the 1934 and 1938 Games, gold had eluded them and this, combined with the cancellation of the 1942 and 1946 Games due to World War II, meant it was a full two decades before Scotland took their second (and third) boxing gold.
Gilliland and Riley’s achievements are all the more remarkable as they had to adapt their training to conditions on board ship during the three week sea voyage to New Zealand. In fact, Gilliland, the reigning British champion, had to pause his training twice on the journey due to injury but still came through to take the Featherweight title by defeating Peter Brander of England in the semi-finals and Rhodesia’s Andy Verceuil in the final.
These of course are just some of the highlights across almost 90 years Commonwealth Games history. With medals at every Games since they began in 1930, there is a wealth of Scottish Boxing history to celebrate.