As he aims to upgrade the weight-lifting silver medal won in Delhi four years ago to Commonwealth Games gold, Peter Kirkbride believes he has an advantage over his rivals in terms of experience.

"I've done what the others haven't done. I've won tournaments in Glasgow," he said, grinning widely.

Naturally, those previous successes in national and local competitions would pale into insignificance compared with Games success, at least judging from his experience of Delhi. "When I came back to Kilmarnock it was like I'd won gold," Kirkbride recalled.

The 26-year-old noted that there was some irony in the difference between claiming silver and winning the greatest prize. "My dog's named Kilo . . . he was named before I lost by a kilo," he explained.

If he can go one better this time around then few will have earned it more. The jobs Kirkbride has undertaken, once lugging bags of cement and now tarmacing roads, evoke images of bygone times when those engaged in the toughest sports invariably had backgrounds to match.

He says that the most difficult times included a spell on the Team GB programme ahead of the London Olympics which he gave up because he felt the cost of accommodation and travel would have left him broke. He also felt that he was being asked to over-train.

"I've been working all my career more or less," said Kirkbride. "The only difference now is I'm not full-time. What I do depends on what needs done that day. I could be out with the boys or raking or shovelling or barrowing. Before I was so isolated, though.

"I didn't realise being full-time would be as bad as it was. It's why I got Kilo, as a companion. I was just vegetating, lying in my bed waiting to go to training. I was out the picture completely."