XVIII Commonwealth Games
Melbourne 2006
Scottish Results - Day Six
Final Bronze Medal for the Scottish Team makes Commonwealth History
On the final day of swimming at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Scottish swimmers made Commonwealth & Scottish history in the pool. The Mens 4x100m Medley Relay Team added the final bronze medal to a historic medal tally of 6 Gold, 3 Silver & 3 Bronze medals. The Scottish record-breaking team of Gregor Tait (55.15), Kris Gilchrist (61.83), Todd Cooper (52.85) & Craig Houston (49.92) powered through to finish 3rd in a nail-biting final. The race was won by Australia in a new Games Record of 3:34.87, England took the silver in 3:36.40, with the Scots taking Bronze just 0.12 ahead of the 4th placed Canadian team in 3:39.75.
Finishing with a total of 12 medals in the pool, the swim team has been the most successful sporting team in the history of any Commonwealth Games, with Judo being the previous leaders with a total of 10 medals won in Manchester, 2002. The 2006 Commonwealth Games have been an outstanding championships with the team being the most successful Scottish swim team in commonwealth history, a huge improvement from the 5 medals (1 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze) won in Manchester.
Speaking from Melbourne, South Aberdeenshire Swimming Head Coach Gary Paterson commented, “This is a magnificent result for Scottish Swimming and for Sport in general in Scotland. We have shown the Nation that we can achieve on the world stage at the elite performance level and give an entire country something to be proud of. Within South Aberdeenshire we must continue to be proud of our achievements to date and further challenge our very environment to strive for further improvements in the future."
Also swimming on the final night was City of Edinburgh swimmer Kris Gilchrist, finishing 4th in an extremely tight 200m Breaststroke final in 2:12.79. The winner was Canadian Michael Brown in a Games record of 2:12.23, silver and bronze medals going to Australians Brenton Rickard (2:12.24) and Jim Piper (2:12.26).
In the Womens 400m Individual Medley, Hannah Miley was just
touched out of the medals, finishing in 4th position in a time of
4:47.95. Fellow Scot Lorna Smith finished in 8th place in 5:01.49.
The 17-year-old Australian Stephanie Rice who also took the 200m Individual
Medley title won the event in a Games Record 4:41.91. The Silver medal was won
by English swimmer Rebecca Cooke who trains with the City of Glasgow in 4:44.60,
and Bronze by Australian Jennifer Reilly in 4:47.13.
The Womens 4x100m Medley Relay team of Lorna Smith (65.54), Kirsty Balfour (68.11), Stephanie Hill (62.47) & Caitlin McClatchey (55.88) finished in 7th place in a world record-breaking final won by the Australian team in 3:56.30. England took the Silver in 4:04.61 ahead of the Canadians in Bronze in 4:05.95.
