FOR Adam Cox is it the goodbye he has waited almost four years to say.
The Scottish gymnast walked away from the sport he loved on the eve of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. When his coach, Tan Jia En, was unexpectedly made redundant as they prepared to depart for Delhi, Cox felt he couldn't continue without him.
As the rest of the team marched out to compete, Cox was sitting at home thousands of miles away in Livingston. In the months that followed, he buried all trace of gymnastics from his life. His training bag and leotards were packed away in the loft, gathering dust and forgotten as he forged a new path as a PE teacher.
Two years in retirement followed before Cox, while watching the 2012 Olympic Games in London, first began to contemplate a comeback. The final much-needed nudge came when his wife Kim, gently drew attention to the thickening stomach where six-pack abs once resided.
Cox, now 27, has documented his journey in the Sunday Herald over the past 12 months leading up to his selection for the Team Scotland men's gymnastics squad who will compete at The Hydro when the action gets under way tomorrow.
"I had a great career in gymnastics and I enjoyed it so much," says Cox. "Not getting to finish it on my terms was very difficult and I now feel I have worked for the chance to say goodbye to my competitive career properly."
The men's team competition is shaping up to be one of the most thrilling spectacles of the Games with only the brave or foolhardy willing to pick a winner from the two top-ranked teams: Scotland and England.
Lining up for Team Scotland alongside Cox are Daniel Keatings, Daniel Purvis, Frank Baines and Liam Davie, while Team England will comprise Louis Smith, Max Whitlock, Sam Oldham, Kristian Thomas and Nile Wilson. Between them they share a raft of Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth medals.
"It feels great to be part of a team that could potentially accomplish so much," says Cox. "Up until this point the best team results we have had was a fourth place in Manchester and Melbourne, but we have a good chance to take the gold this time if things go our way on the day."
His own preparations, says Cox, have gone well. "My body is in really good shape and I'm feeling stronger than ever," he says. "Going through my routines is now easier, meaning that I can concentrate on making the little adjustments on landings or when performing skills so I will have smaller deductions when competing."
As a man in the eye of the storm, Cox has the perfect vantage point with which to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of both sides. "I would say we are pretty evenly matched," he says. "In terms of all rounders we have three very strong guys and so do Team England. They have Max Whitlock and Kristian Thomas on floor; we have Frank Baines and Dan Purvis. They have Louis Smith and Max on the pommel horse, but we have Dan Keatings.
"Neither of the teams are partic-ularly strong on rings. We have three strong vaulters and so do they. We outmatch them on parallel bars with Dan Keatings and Frank, but they have a slightly stronger high bar with Sam and Kristian."
Which means that it is likely proceedings will come down to an edge-of-the-seat, nail-biting finale on Tuesday evening, but Cox is aiming to make Scotland proud. "We all want to go out there and do the best job possible," he says. "I think that this is the team that all future Scottish gymnastics teams will be compared to because we will raise the bar."
He hopes that the home advantage could help sway things in Scotland's favour. "Having the crowd behind you at a major event always gives you something special," says Cox. "I mean look at the team result the [Team GB] boys had at London 2012."
But equally he is cautious about viewing the competition as entirely a two horse race, pointing out there are other nations worth keeping a close eye on. "Canada will have a strong team and Wales have a good group of boys too," he says.
As his third Commonwealth Games looms into sharp focus, Cox is determined to enjoy every moment, with hopefully a fairy-tale ending. "My personal ambition is to go out there and perform solid routines and make sure that if any of the other boys have an unexpected fall, my score is there to keep the team's overall score high," he says. "I understand my role in this team: I want to go out there and be a confident, reassuring and solid performer, so that the younger lads can go hell for leather with big routines and push for this gold."
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