By LOUISE HOUSTON
SCOTLAND'S Olympic and Paralympic stars paraded through Manchester to celebrate their record-breaking performances at Rio 2016.
Ace tennis star Gordon Reid, from Helensburgh, and rower Katherine Grainger, from Bearsden, were among the sports heroes taking part in the celebrations yesterday.
More than 150,000 people braved the rain to line the parade route sporting gold hats and waving flags.
The procession started at the Museum of Science and Industry and ended in Albert Square where 400 athletes gathered on stage.
London will have its own celebration on Tuesday in Trafalgar Square.
Team GB set an Olympic record in Rio 2016 by winning 67 medals - two more than they managed at London 2012.
The Paralympians also bested their previous performance with 147 medals - 27 more than four years ago.
The parade was broadcast on big screens in the city centre and the Kaiser Chiefs were performing live.
Manchester was chosen for the first parade to reflect the contribution made by athletes from across the UK, the government said.
The city has become the hub for Team GB and Paralympics GB's all-conquering cyclists and para-cyclists since the opening of Britain's first indoor Olympic cycling track there in 1994.
Sports stars including Jessica Ennis-Hill, Dame Sarah Storey, Max Whitlock, Jade Jones and Nicola Adams were among the athletes who attended.
Ennis-Hill said even though she was "a bit wet" it was "a really nice occasion to come here and be on the float, celebrating Rio, and also saying goodbye to everyone".
Team GB's Women's Hockey Team were also there although goalkeeper Maddie Hinch, who saved all four penalties in the shootout in the final against the Netherlands, nearly missed the parade.
Her flight from the Netherlands, where she now plays, was cancelled but luckily three hours later she was on the way.
Sue Murphy, deputy leader of Manchester City Council, said: "We couldn't be more thrilled to host the national parade."
She added: "The city has been a medal factory, pumping out golds as the home of British Cycling and British Taekwondo."
Bill Sweeney, chief executive of the British Olympic Association, said: "The British public have a fantastic opportunity to meet their Rio heroes."
The procession, which is the city's largest sporting celebration since Manchester United's parade after their Champions' League, Premier League and FA Cup treble in 1999, took in Deansgate, Huntsbank, Todd Street, Corporation Street, Exchange Square, Cross Street and finally Albert Square, where the finale was broadcast on big screens within the city centre.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel