LIBBY CLEGG became the first Scottish athlete to bask in the glory of a crowd numbering more than 40,000 at Hampden Park last night, winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in the para 100m T12 category.
Scotland's first track-and-field champion at the Games since Yvonne Murray 20 years ago, the visually-impaired sprinter took the team's tally of gold medals to 13 after the men's pair of Paul Foster and Alex Marshall had won on the bowling greens of Kelvingrove earlier, setting a new record of 12 for a single Games.
Clegg's storming run of 12.20 seconds saw her, with the help of guide runner Mikael Huggins, win by a distance and she paid tribute to the noisy vocal support provided by a the capacity crowd at the national stadium.
"I was totally aware of the crowd beforehand and it was so uplifting. I didn't feel huge pressure over the past couple of years to win this medal but I was definitely a little bit nervous this morning before the heat," said Clegg.
"We've ran well in both races today and I am happy with the performance and the time. "I didn't realise it was Scotland's first track Gold at a Commonwealth Games since 1994. Wow. That's a big thing."
Marshall and Foster also won their gold with something to spare; they coasted to a 19-0 lead before winning 21-3. After a nail-biting semi-final win over England the day before they never gave the home crowd at Kelvingrove any reason to worry about them finishing the job against Malaysia. "I've won two golds at the Commonwealths before but this one tops the lot," said Marshall. "Playing in your own back yard, in Scotland, in front of your own fans, you just can't beat it, it's simply the best.
"We got off to a good start and Paul was phenomenal from start to finish, which made my job a lot easier, but there's a lot of pressure on you to keep going. That's what we did.
"It's great to win the third gold medal and especially when it's in Scotland. Definitely the highlight of my career."
Jen McIntosh, a double gold-medallist from the Delhi Games four years ago, picked up bronze in the smallbore rifle at Barry Buddon in Angus and when Clegg ran away from her rivals at Hampden, it meant Scotland had equalled their record medal haul of 33 set in Edinburgh in 1986.
Louise Martin, chair of sportscotland and a key figure in bringing the Games to Glasgow, said: "To be in this position after only five days of competition is simply phenomenal.
"All the work done by experts at the sportscotland institute of sport, the Team Scotland support staff, and coaches ensured the team was the best-ever prepared for a Commonwealth Games, but it is still down to every individual athlete to go out and perform to their best on the day.
"The performances have been incredible, so it is a big 'well done' to all of the medallists so far. We now look forward to seeing the action unfold over the remaining six days of competition - and to cheering on our athletes to a new record for Team Scotland."
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