Murdoch proves he's the real deal

After claiming a bronze medal in the 100m breast stroke to go with his gold in the 200m on Thursday night, this product of Balloch on the Bonnie, Bonnie banks of Loch Lomond revealed that he has been known to take a dip in its icy waters from time to time.

Alas, there was to be no second gold medal of the games, to follow up his dismantling of poor Michael Jamieson on Thursday night. There was no trembling bottom lip, the poor boy spared the ordeal of keeping his emotions in check throughout Flower of Scotland.

But this was another serious swim all right, shaving fully nine hundreths of a second off his personal best in 59.47 seconds as eventual winner Adam Peaty of Uttoxeter, England, became the first British man to dip below 59 seconds.

And the man who finished second was Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa, who just happens to be the reigning Olympic champion and World Record holder. He is back in action today in the 50m, and could still compete in the 4x100m medley relay, but right now he has a gold in the 200m and a creditable lesser medal in the 100m to speak of. It is precisely the kind of haul which most were forecasting for Jamieson.

While the medal was only bronze, Murdoch was delighted to have it, not least because it was presented by none other than Scottish swimming legend and 1976 Montreal Olympic Champion David Wilkie.

He concluded matters with an Andy Murray-style tour of Tollcross on which he seemed to be congratulated by most of this arena's visitors.

"I will absolutely treasure this as much as the gold," Murdoch said. "It is another medal that I can say that I won for Scotland at a home games so I am absolutely over the moon.

"It was a great honour to meet him [Wilkie]," he added. "I spoke to him just behind the presentation panel. He just said congratulations for the 100m tonight, and the 200m and reminded me to keep pushing hard in training so that in a couple of years we might see something else."

This time there was no Jamieson to hide behind. His cover had been truly blown by those heroics on Thursday night, and it was clear from the way he accepted the adulation of the crowd that this was an expectant audience.

This time Craig Benson, whose uncle was an 100m sprint champion, and who followed him in one and a half seconds later in a creditable fourth, had the anonymity.

This is Murdoch's favoured event, but it was pretty clear that he was in at the deep end. He was only fifth to the turn, but for a few priceless seconds as he appeared to reel in his more vaunted competitors, the Scottish crowd sensed gold. The finish came too soon for him, as Peaty revelled in a Games record and a British milestone.

"I am really pleased," said Murdoch. "That was a personal best for me, coming off the 200m. I just want to say congrats to Adam Peaty, he is the first British man ever to swim sub 59 seconds and that is an amazing feat.

"I felt more relaxed tonight knowing that the Scottish people were behind me," the 20-year-old added. "The support has been fantastic this week. Everybody has been behind me, I have had loads of texts and stuff like that from people I haven't spoken to in years. It has been a fantastic experience, one I will never forget and I just want to keep enjoying it."

This he could very well do. "I have the 50m again now I need to get myself rested and ready to go again," he said. "It is just a splash and dash really, you just have to get everything right on the day and you never know what can happen in the end. That was just my family, up in the stands there. I have got a lot of family here to see me tonight so it was amazing to see them."

This was the performance of an emerging superstar. You get the feeling he won't be going for another dip by those Bonnie, Bonnie banks any time soon, though. "I have swam in the loch," he said. "It is absolutely freezing."

It was to be the only medal of the night at Tollcross, but there were some Scottish near misses.

There was heartbreak for Scotland's Cameron Brodie in the pool last night when he was pipped for a bronze medal by a fraction of a second in the 200m butterfly.

Brodie, formerly of Inverurie, but who swims out of Stirling these days, had qualified fastest for the final, but even swimming three quarters of a second quicker in the final, to record his first Scottish senior record of 1.56.59secs wasn't enough to take home a medal.

Chad le Clos, the reigning World, Olympic and Commonwealth Champion, whom Brodie had actually beaten in the morning, showed his pedigree with a games record swim of 1.55.07secs, with Australia's Grant Irvine taking second, and Le Clos' countryman Sebastien Rousseau squeezing out the Scot by 0.16 of a second.

His fellow University of Stirling student Sian Harkin could only finish seventh in the women's 50m freestyle behind Fran Halsall of England, whose 23.96secs was another Games record.

The theme of Scottish near misses continued at Tollcross International Swimming Centre.

Hannah Miley, also originally from Inverurie, put in a great swim from Lane One in the 200m breaststroke in her pursuit of a second medal of the games but could manage just fourth. Craig Rodgie was one place further back in the men's para-sport 200m freestyle behind the excellent Daniel Fox of Australia.

Hannah Miley Interview - Page 4