Scots Are Underway in Paris

The 2024 Olympic Games are well and truly underway, and all eyes have been on Paris watching all of the Team GB athletes perform on the global stage in the hopes of coming home with that Olympic medal.

We are only halfway through week one of the Olympic Games and it’s been nonstop action. Here’s some of the highlights from our Scottish athletes representing on Team GB

Charlie Aldridge, from Perth, competed in the Men’s MTB Cross Country event on Monday. Charlie performed exceptionally well and was riding in 4th/5th position for the first half of the race up against some fantastic riders. Finishing in 8th place, in a time of 1:28:08, it was a race to be extremely proud of.

Duncan Scott took home is first medal of the games last night as part of the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay, alongside his teammates Tom Dean, James Guy and Matt Richards. A thoroughly deserved back-to-back Olympic Gold medal for Team GB, who were up against very strong relay teams from USA and Australia, but Duncan swam a fantastic last leg to bring it home in style. Duncan narrowly missed out on a medal by 0.08 seconds in his 200m freestyle on Monday evening but now has his first medal of the games and still plenty of racing still to go this games.

The Women's Triathlon event took place in the early hours of the morning and with the rain throughout the night producing some tricky conditions on the streets of Paris, it was going to be tough race for all. However, Beth swam a great swim and navigated a tough course on the bike, keeping herself with the lead pack all the way and once she hit the road for the 10k run, she dug deep and was running alongside the top 4 and brilliantly came away with the Olympic Bronze medal! 

Andy Murray and Dan Evans produced a fantastic comeback against Japan in their first round of the Tennis Men’s Doubles, saving an incredible 5 match points to come out with the win. Last night in their second round, they were up against Belgium and after breaking early in the match they took the first set 6-3, however narrowly missed out on the second set win in a tie-break. It meant another nervous Championship tie break for Andy and Dan but once again the pair produced a gritty performance to come away with a win, saving two match points, and are through to the quarter finals! 

Kirsty Gilmour won her opening pool match against Keisha Fatimah Azzahra (AZE), 21-13, 21-11 on Monday afternoon. It was a must win in her 2nd pool match last night against He Bing Jiao (CHN) but unfortunately narrowly missed out on a place in the knock out stages. A brilliant effort from Kirsty who has always performed at the games and made us all proud.  

Swimmer Katie Shanahan made it to the final of the Women's 400m Individual Medley on Monday evening, competing against some of the top swimmers in the world, including Olympic Champion Summer McIntosh. Katie was riding the shoulders of the chasing pack for much of that race and finished in 7th place with a time of 4:40.17. 

A grand total of 327 Team GB athletes are representing their country, with the British Olympic Association sending one of its biggest cohorts to the French capital this summer and for only the second time in history, there are more woman competing than men in Paris, with 155 male and 172 female athletes.  

A very proud group of 34 Scottish athletes are competing in this summer’s Olympic games as part Team GB, representing across 13 different sport disciplines, who will all be hoping to be of something special.

After years of intense preparation and training, with 29 of the 34 Scottish athletes being supported by the sportscotland Institute of Sport, our athletes are ready to take on the world and give their all over the next 16 days.

And as the Scots taking part prepare for action, Chief Executive of sportscotland, Forbes Dunlop, and Sports Minister Maree Todd, wished them the best of luck ahead of the of sporting action.

Mr Dunlop said: “To be selected for the Olympic Games is a lifelong dream for most athletes. The opportunity to represent your country is a remarkable achievement and is a result of years of hard work, skill, dedication and commitment. To get to this stage requires a huge team effort and so many of our athletes are lucky to be supported by a fantastic team at the sportscotland Institute of Sport and given many opportunities from the financial support of the National Lottery investment.

“The focus now turns to Paris and to all of the 34 Scottish athletes competing for Team GB and on behalf of everyone at sportscotland, I want to wish them the very best of luck. It is their time to shine, I know they will give it their all.’’

Sports Minister, Maree Todd said: “I’d like to offer my warmest congratulations for the fantastic achievement made by everyone of you in being selected for Team GB to compete at the Paris Olympics 2024. To have the opportunity to represent your country at the Olympics is a fantastic achievement.

"I’m sure many of you have aspired to achieve this moment for many years and you’ll treasure this for an exceptionally long time. I know how much hard work and determination that it’s taken, along with the commitment required from yourself, your family and high-performance staff to develop and progress in sport.

I appreciate the significant contribution that leaders, like you, have in providing crucial strong role models who motivate and encourage others to participate in sport. It’s great to see Scottish athletes competing on the world sporting stage. Particularly helping to inspire the next generation on young athletes.

On behalf of the Scottish Government Ministerial team, I wish you every success for the games and I am absolutely sure you will do Scotland proud.”

Full List of Scottish athletes and their sports: