For a while it was perhaps her favourite place of work but as Imogen Bankier sat in the Emirates Arena last night discussing her decision to undertake a permanent change of career there seemed little sign of regret.
Having only recently turned 28 she seems ridiculously young to be retiring from an elite sporting career that has scaled significant heights, but the Olympian who is the only Scot to have contested a World Championship final has given this her full consideration.
In some ways she believes she was something of a victim of her own success.
“I achieved quite a lot quite early on and when I looked through the things I wanted to achieve like a European medal, world medal, Commonwealth medal, going to the Olympics, the things that were left for me to achieve would be an Olympic medal, trying to get more Commonwealth, World and European medals. These are really top end and it didn’t seem obtainable,” she said.
That is partly down to the dynamics of British mixed doubles and her decision, three years ago, to split from the Badminton England-run GB Badminton programme which wanted her to base herself in Milton Keynes.
That resulted in the ending of her partnership with Chris Adcock, with whom she won that World Championship silver medal as a 23-year-old in 2011 and bronze at the European Championships together before they played together at the Olympics in London.
However she then rekindled her partnership with fellow Scot Robert Blair, achieving another major ambition by winning a medal with him at last year’s Commonwealth Games.
Even then, however, she was aware that it would be difficult to continue to be competitive at the highest level and Bankier consequently took the chance to get involved in The Whisky Shop, her family business.
A six month sabbatical from international level badminton which began in January stretched to a year and as it ends she is convinced that is now where her immediate future lies, struggling as she had been to find the necessary motivation to return to full-time sport.
“I always wanted to achieve the top all the time and driving for that I’m not one of those players who just loves the lifestyle,” Bankier explained.
“Throughout my whole career I had a love-hate relationship with it. I always struggled with the highs and lows because I didn’t love training, I didn’t love travelling. There were times when I enjoyed those things but they were a means to an end. I just wanted so badly to win all the time.
“That was my driving force, it wasn’t the lifestyle that attracted me. Towards the end I found I was really struggling with the lows so much.
“I have other ambitions and I knew I wanted to do something else. I’m good at badminton but I think there’s more to me. I’m motivated and I’ve always been interested in trying to explore what else I could possibly be good at.”
She is fairly certain there will be one last domestic outing, at the national championships early in the New Year where she can add to her 15 national titles, but with the big decision made, this festive period seems the right time to reflect on a magnificent career which had an obvious outstanding highlight with that World Championship final appearance.
“It was an incredible week and part of what made it so special is that it was so out of the blue,” she recalled.
“We were not seeded in the tournament and were ranked 18 in the world, so to reach a final in London was dream like stuff.”
Yet claiming a bronze medal in her home city last year ran it close.
“And here… that sticks out as wow, incredible,” she said, grinning broadly.
“The Commonwealth Games was so important for so many other reasons and it was a completely different flip of the coin because it wasn’t the unexpected, nothing to lose euphoria; we had a goal and wanted to get that medal.”
She and Blair took a fair bit of time out thereafter which only made their successful Scottish Open Grand Prix title defence all the more enjoyable.
“To win the Scottish in the Emirates Arena… we had that feeling that it was beginning to become quite a special place for us because we’d won it the year before as well. We knew at that point it would be our last major tournament together. It was special to win it with Robert having played together so long. He’s been such a big part of my career and my life, in two phases,” she mused.
The commitment required has been such that, premature as it in many ways seems for her to be doing so, Bankier has earned the right to put her feet up this Christmas, sip a fine single malt and fondly contemplate a job well done. Here’s to the next one.
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