September 2006 A Dream Come True
By Caitlin McClatchey read biography
I have always loved to swim. It runs in our family. My mum and dad, John and Louise, swam for the Scottish team at the 1970 and 1974 Commonwealth Games.
My uncle Alan (McClatchey) won an Olympic Bronze in 1976. Bill (McClatchey), my paternal granddad, swam for Ireland and my maternal great-grandfather, Walter Barron Ross, was an amateur endurance runner in Edinburgh before the First World War. Jackie, my aunt on mum’s side, was a Scottish junior swimmer and married Stewart McCallum, who led the field at the start of the second day of the 1974 Commonwealth Games decathlon. He switched to hurdles, winning three Scottish titles at 110m and his Scottish record at 400m hurdles lasted from 1975 to 1996.
The 2006 Commonwealth Games was needless to say, an unforgettable experience for me. Scotland not only won more medals than in the previous 2002 Games in Manchester but in fact won more than any other Games. For me to win two gold medals for Scotland felt truly amazing.
I remember the 200m race almost second by second. The pre-atmosphere was exciting and tense at the same time. No one really spoke to each other, everyone was focusing on what they wanted to do. The crowd was amazing. The atmosphere when the competitors walked onto the poolside was electric and buzzing. Although the crowd was made up of mostly Australians, it was exciting to compete in front of a sell out venue and my fellow team mates.
Before the race I was more excited than nervous. I really just wanted to dive in and see what I could do, because I had felt quite smooth and relaxed in the morning heats. I felt honoured to be competing against some of the best athletes in the world especially Libby Lenton, who was ranked world number one for the event and was very much the home favourite. However, I was trying not to think about anyone else at that time and just tried to concentrate on what I wanted to do and achieve. It was always my dream when I was young to compete for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games and now it was coming true.
I got off to a good start. During the race I kept telling myself not to lose touch of Mel Marshall and Libby because I knew they would go out fast. True to form they had set off really fast, but I managed to keep up with them. Down the last length I couldn't really see anyone clearly as I was breathing the other way. At about 20m to the finish, I could see underwater that I was level with Libby. I just told myself to put my head down and in the last 10m, give every last ounce of energy that I had. It was a bit of blur.
When I finished, I glanced up at the electronic timing and saw I had come first. I was so shocked and then when I looked at the time I was flabbergasted. It was a truly great feeling. I was ecstatic. I then caught a glimpse of my team mates who were shouting and jumping up and down!
I hope I inspired them a little and showed them that the brilliant Australian's weren't totally invincible. Later that night Dave Carry went on to win another gold medal for Scotland and overall Scotland had a fantastic result in the pool.
To have won the first medal for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in front of an Australian home crowd will always stay with me. It was a dream come true and hopefully we can do even better next time.