THEY are some pretty sizeable footsteps to follow in, but James Heatly is confident he is up to the task.
The grandson of Commonwealth Games legend Sir Peter Heatly, the 16-year-old diver was among the 40-strong Team Scotland aquatics squad announced this week.
His grandfather, Sir Peter, sits in third place on the list of all-time Scots at the Commonwealth Games, winning three consecutive diving gold medals as well as a silver and a bronze. Sir Peter, 89, watched proudly during the official team announcement at Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow. He made his own Commonwealth Games debut in 1950 and looks forward to seeing his grandson continue that diving dynasty 64 years later.
"It means a tremendous amount to see James selected," he said. "I'm absolutely delighted. I can enjoy being a spectator now."
Heatly, a pupil at George Watson's College in Edinburgh, is one of two divers selected. His training partner, 17-year-old Grace Reid, who competed in Delhi in 2010, was also named in the team. "It's amazing," he says. "It means everything. To carry it on and have grandpa in the past and me doing it now."
Heatly credits his grandfather's achievements with being the inspiration for his own career. He first showed a flair for the sport when his family was living in America where his father Robert was working at the NATO headquarters in Virginia Beach.
They had a pool in the back garden and in lieu of a diving board Heatly would jump from a climbing frame on to a trampoline and then somersault into the water. His grandfather spotted his potential and suggested that, on the family's return to Scotland, the youngster should consider joining Edinburgh Diving Club.
By his own admission, Heatly, who will represent Scotland in the 3m springboard event, was a late arrival to diving at the ripe old age of 10 but he quickly rose through the ranks. Earlier this year, Heatly claimed a major scalp when, alongside Sam Thornton from Leeds, he beat Tom Daley and Daniel Goodfellow to win the senior men's 3m synchronised springboard event at the British Gas National Diving Cup in Southend.
The teenager also took gold in junior men's 3m synchro, gold in junior men's 3m and silver in junior men's 1m at the same event, while securing his qualification score for the Games in the 3m springboard final. Heatly is based at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh - the venue that will host the diving during this summer's Games.
He is appreciative of the potentially huge advantage that competing on home turf can bring. "I won't have to get used to new surroundings and because it's at home there will be people there I know," he says. "The crowd will be loud so it should be exciting."
He replies without hesitation when asked the best piece of advice imparted by his grandfather. "Patience," he says. "He would say things like, 'you should never go up the stairs to the board quickly'.
"When I was younger I used to get frustrated when I couldn't do anything and wanted to get everything done really quickly.
"It was grandpa who got me to slow down a bit."
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 hereComments are closed on this article