As Tom Dean swam into Olympic history in the early hours, there were rapturous scenes of joy among his family and friends in Maidenhead.

The video of their wild celebrations demonstrated a sense of pride in Tom’s gold medal victory which is shared by people right across the UK.

It’s also shared by Duncan Scott, the Glasgow swimmer who was just 0.04 seconds behind to win a brilliant silver.

"The best possible outcome is to go one-two, we've delivered on that, and there was a PB as well in the final so I can't complain at all,” he said.

His gracious comments demonstrated the team spirit that runs through Team GB, and is the hallmark of the Olympic spirit.

The President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, in opening the Games referred to ‘togetherness’ as ‘the light at the end of the dark tunnel’ as people forced to separate due to Covid-19 can start to be together again, and the Olympics acting as a representation of this with the world coming together.

As citizens of Scotland we are also global citizens, and we are part of a network that allows us to contribute to the world and to benefit from being part of the international community. 

This is not diminished by us being part of Britain; it is enhanced by it.

It is perfectly illustrated by our Scottish athletes performing proudly as part of Team GB, and by Scots supporters getting behind all the Team GB athletes.

So we shared in the delight this week as Tom Daley finally got the gold medal we all so desperately wanted to see around his neck, and Adam Peaty dominated in the pool once again, and Tom Pidcock raced to gold on his mountain bike.

For some senior politicians in the SNP though, they have never been able to understand the positive public mood that is shaped by Olympics.

Who can ever forget Alex Salmond’s horribly misjudged call to only get behind the ‘Scolympians’ in 2012?

Even at this Games, while Scots are cheering on Team GB competitors, SNP politicians who are rarely shy to comment on sporting success remain silent on Twitter.

The ethos of Team GB – that we achieve more together than we ever could alone – goes against everything they believe in.

Yes, if Scotland were ever to become independent we would undoubtedly have some Olympic success.

But not on the scale enjoyed by Team GB.

And the negative impact of going it alone wouldn’t only be on Scotland – England, Wales and Northern Ireland could get medals separately, but we achieve far greater success by working together.

Our best athletes join forces with one team spirit and share world-class training, best practice, expertise and facilities so that we can become a shared success story.

Co-operation goes right to the very heart of the Olympic Games.

The opening ceremony in Tokyo explored how we have come together to overcome the challenges the pandemic has posed through global cooperation and by reaching out to friends and colleagues across the globe. 

The Olympics illustrates perfectly what can be achieved when we work together and the benefits of an increasingly interconnected world.

When the rest of the world is working closer together, why would we want to create barriers which would be an impediment to this?

We can all learn from the Olympic spirit by focusing on what unites us and being part of a team.

Pamela Nash is the chief executive of Scotland in Union.