SPARKLING Scotland made sporting history again by not just breaking but smashing the Commonwealth Games medal tally record.
The "medal avalanche" including three silver medals and a bronze yesterday meant Scots athletes, who lie fourth in the medal table, have earned 37 medals - surpassing the 33 won at the Games in Edinburgh in 1986 which was boycotted by 32 African, Asian and Caribbean nations.
A day after setting a gold medal record, the medals tally record was shattered halfway through the 11-day Games - when the men's gymnastics team swung and flipped their way to silver in a rocking SSE Hydro.
Later Jen McIntosh matched the gymnasts feat, taking silver in the women's 50 metre rifle three positions event at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre in Carnoustie, Angus.
The 23-year-old from Edinburgh followed up Monday's bronze in the 50m rifle prone to make her Scotland's most decorated female Commonwealth athlete with five medals -beating her shooter mother Shirley's record of four in the process.
In another electrifying night at Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Daniel Wallace secured another silver coming second in the men's 200m individual medley, after arriving at the pool wearing a kilt.
The 21-year-old, who took gold in the 400m and silver in the 4x200 freestyle relay, followed his Braveheart-style "for freedom" celebration by entering the arena wearing a kilt and got the crowd cheering as he waved his arms and clapped his hands on the starting block before stripping to his trunks.
But he was to show Braveheart spirit by forcing home for silver when all looked hopeless when he was in last place after 100m.
He said: "If you'd have told me before the Games I was going to get two silvers and one gold I'd have never believed you!"
And Moray's Mark Dry grabbed a bronze in the men's hammer with a distance of 71.64m, 2.52m behind gold medal winner Canada's Jim Steacy.
McIntosh, who claimed two golds and a bronze in Delhi, said of her personal medal tally record: "That's an incredible accolade to have at 23. And it's about time mum's record went!"
"The whole Scotland team has been absolutely fantastic. It's our biggest team and the best prepared team we have ever had.
"We came here to break records and that's what we've done. And for me personally it's pretty special. It was one of the most exciting experiences of my life."
The gymnastic team of Dan Keatings, Dan Purvis, Frank Baines, Adam Cox and Liam Davie also created a slice of sporting history for themselves, as it was the first time any Scottish gymnasts team had won a medal in a Commonwealth Games.
Adam Cox who came out of retirement to take part in the Games said: "Oh, I loved it, every single second of it. I came out of retirement for this, and you know what, I couldn't think of a better way to end my gymnastics career.
"The crowd were fantastic and the boys were great, I am so proud of them."
Dan Keatings praised the crowd for encouraging the team to reach new heights.
"The crowd was really amazing. It is impossible to have your head down low, because the crowd just lifts you up that high and it pushed us to get that team medal," he said.
An emotional Liam Davie echoed those sentiments adding: "Even when I fell the crowd supported me and I am honoured to be part of this team."
"It feels fantastic," added Dan Purvis. "Doing it front of the home crowd is absolutely unbelievable."
But Laura Muir, a 21-year-old veterinary student, had her hopes of adding another gold to Scotland's haul crushed when she faded from contention in the final straight of the 1500m last night at Hampden.
Scotland's First Minister hailed the medal haul as "phenomenal" and also paid tribute to the home crowd which has spurred the sportsmen and women on since the 20th Games kicked off.
Alex Salmond said: "This fantastic achievement is testament to the hard work of the Team Scotland athletes, coaches and support staff, and their dedication is inspiring the nation."
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