David Leask and Catherine Fegan NO-ONE is following Scotland's Olympians more closely.

David Leask and Catherine Fegan

NO-ONE is following Scotland's Olympians more closely.

Five thousand miles from Beijing, dozens of young Scottish hopefuls yesterday watched Chris Hoy break Olympic history. They all had one thought: "I can win Gold too."

Suddenly, the nation better known for its cringe than its champions, felt good about itself. Scots, it turns out, can be winners. But can we do it again?

Sprinter Mahad Ahmed thinks so. "You'll be seeing me collecting Gold at the Commonwealth Games," said the Glasgow 12-year-old, the fastest boy of his age in Britain. He has already set his eyes on a podium finish at Glasgow 2014. And he doesn't want to be second.

Somalia-born Mahad will be pulling on a blue Scottish jersey for the Commonwealths and has watched a new world record being set in his event in Beijing, by 100m gold medallist Usain Bolt.

"It would be amazing to be like him, he is my idol," Mahad said. "It's amazing watching him race and I spend my time imagining what it would be like to be him." His coach hopes he can match his hero.

"Mahad is special," said Frank Rafferty, of Glasgow School of Sport at Bellahouston Academy. "He will definitely be in the mix in 2014."

Tomorrow Scotland will name its squad for the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India, later this summer. These young men and women will almost certainly be at the forefront of the nation's adult team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Some, fingers crossed, will make it to London 2012, too. Mahad and some of his pals at Bellahouston are too young to feature. They're not too young to plan their careers. And they are not too young for politicians to think about their changes for gold.

Medals, after all, are not a matter of luck. They are the result of investment. In Britain's case, from the National Lottery.

Louise Martin, chief executive of Sportscotland and one of the officials who did most to land the Commonwealths for Glasgow in 2014, knows that.

"Team GB is having a fantastic Games and we are very proud of all the athletes, including the 32 Scots on the team," she said yesterday. "However, this success has not happened overnight, nor by chance. It is the result of sustained planning and investment from the Lottery both at home country and, particularly, UK level."

Britain has paid for its record medal toll. Every gold, it is reckoned, was bought with £9.4m in investment in high-performance sport. Money doesn't guarantee victory for any given individual, but put enough money into sport and champions will emerge.

Look at China. The Chinese are this year almost certain to top the unofficial Olympic medals table, the first time a nation other than the Soviet Union or America has done so since Germany triumphed at Hitler's Olympics in 1936. They have planned for success with industrial efficiency. Their "Project 119" aimed to push Chinese athletes into medal positions in 119 events, by hothousing young talents, building world-class facilities and hiring the best international coaches. China has even developed an interest in "unfashionable" sports where - whisper it - medals are easier to come by than "blue ribband" events such as the men's 100m. The hosts of this year's games, for example, are suddenly a force to be reckoned with in rowing.

Other nations, of course, have tried - and succeeded - in buying Olympic success, sometimes thanks to downright cheating.

East Germany notched up 384 medals in the five Olympics from 1972. The Communist state took 37 golds at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the last in which it competed before its collapse a year later. That was one more than the US. Later it emerged East German trainers had given steroids to as many as 2000 athletes.

Even playing clean, governments can make huge inroads into the medals table. Team GB - the squad is made up of Scots, English, Welsh and those from Northern Ireland who choose not to compete for the united Irish team - performed poorly in Atlanta, in 1996, before Lotto funding came on line. Last night it was still lying in third place, ahead of sporting giants such as Russia and Germany.

So how is funding for 2012 and 2014? Most sports officials reckon the money will continue to find its way to elite athletes - and those that show potential to become elite athletes. There is one slight hitch. Lottery money that previously would have dripped down to grassroots sports has been diverted to help pay for the London Olympics, officially priced at £9.3bn, almost a third, for example, of the entire national budget of the Scottish Government. There are two issues. First a special Olympic scratchcard is competing with normal Lotto products. Second cash from the existing pot of Lotto funding has been taken away.

The SNP has complained. They reckon the Olympics will rob good causes in Scotland, including sports, of some £150m. Voluntary groups believe the figure is even higher, around £184m.

Pete Wishart, the party's Westminster sports spokesman, thinks athletes could suffer. "It's going to be a real challenge," he told The Herald while watching Chris Hoy claim a third cycling gold in Beijing. "Sporting success does not come cheap. A lot of money is coming out of the system. But that loss has to be balanced against the inspirational effect of seeing Scottish competitors win in China."

There is another problem too. Prime Minister Gordon Brown had counted on an extra £100m coming for Britain's 2012 hopefuls from commercial sponsors. Yesterday it emerged that money could fall victim of the credit crunch. Sports which have done less well in Beijing will be hit hardest.

Olympians should be well catered for, other sources said. They, like other high performance athletes, are funded directly from UK Sport. Other sportsmen and women, mere "performance" athletes, must rely on "home country" funding from agencies like Sportscotland, which distributes lottery and government cash to organisations responsible for individual sports. It's up to Sportsscotland and councils to pay for grassroots sports. And it is here - where the champions of the future are found - that funding problems from the Olympics will hit hardest.

Frank Clements knows what it is like to win. The former Olympian - and former chairman of Scottish Athletics - passionately believes that money has to be pumped into sports development, especially in the hundreds of volunteer-staffed clubs that keep Scottish sport alive. "Clubs are the absolute key," he said. Local authorities like Glasgow are also keen to tap into newfound enthusiasm for sport inspired by the likes of Chris Hoy - or tennis star Andy Murray.

Angela Porter, director of Glasgow School of Sport, said: "The wins at the Olympics have thrust more Scots into the limelight and in turn provided our youngsters with role models. The Olympic dream will hopefully become a reality for many of them."

Ms Porter admits it isn't always easy for Scots to make it on to Team GB. So how well would a Scottish Olympic team do? It would almost certainly be bigger than the current Scottish contingent in China. But would it be better? Scotland has 32 competitors in Team GB, fewer than any other developed nation of its size and only five more than tiny Iceland. Norway had 85 athletes at the Games; Ireland 54. Chris Hoy, however, by yesterday afternoon had alone secured more medals than all the Olympians from Scotland's two closest independent neighbours put together.

Sport is about more than medals and the Olympics. Josh Cairns, a 16-year-old hockey defender from Tollcross who studies at the School of Sport, summed up why. "Most of my mates are out fighting, drinking and taking drugs. Where I come from it's all shootings and knife attacks. When I realised I was good at playing hockey, I said I would make something of myself instead."