Olympic Dreams

[Govangirl]

Who was the woman that was singing it?

Exactly Tosh, it was what I meant by selling out - she won the X Factor last year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And according to my Led Zeppelin fan son, Jimmy was also miming playing the guitar as it was continuing whilst he wasn't playing and I really hope he's wrong.............

[LANDROVER ROGER]

Mmmmmm, our 'national identity' is a strange one, is it not? Did people not want 'Team UK' then? GB doesn't make sense geographically or even nationalistically athough it sounds better, doesn't it? Still, Isle of Man, etc. are not in the UK either..... do we have any athletes from there?

Just the one.He does the three legged race on his own.

[Govangirl]

See Roger, you CAN be inoffensive AND funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bill]

I think I heard that Alex Salmond wants a separate Scottish team at the London Olympics?

The reply from Chris Hoy ,Scotland's greatest ever Olympian was............


"For him to call for a Scottish Olympic team at this stage is ridiculous. I wouldn't have three gold medals hanging round my neck if I wasn't part of the British team. I'm a Scottish athlete in a British team, and I'm proud to be a British athlete."

[Tosh]

Who was the woman that was singing it?

Exactly Tosh, it was what I meant by selling out - she won the X Factor last year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And according to my Led Zeppelin fan son, Jimmy was also miming playing the guitar as it was continuing whilst he wasn't playing and I really hope he's wrong.............

So winning a TV talent show makes you a super star now?
Remind me, where are the previous winners of all these shows now?

[Mary G]

I think I heard that Alex Salmond wants a separate Scottish team at the London Olympics?

The reply from Chris Hoy ,Scotland's greatest ever Olympian was............


"For him to call for a Scottish Olympic team at this stage is ridiculous. I wouldn't have three gold medals hanging round my neck if I wasn't part of the British team. I'm a Scottish athlete in a British team, and I'm proud to be a British athlete."

Thanks for this Bill. Chris Hoy is totally right. We get the best of both worlds with the current set-up. He has said before that he loves competing for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games and with the GB team at the Olympics.

Unlike Salmond, Chris Hoy is totally secure in his Scottish-ness and doesn’t need to go down that separatist route to prove that he is a proud Scot.

[LANDROVER ROGER]

See Roger, you CAN be inoffensive AND funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for the compliment.Must try harder Miss!

[Govangirl]

Unlike Salmond, Chris Hoy is totally secure in his Scottish-ness and doesn’t need to go down that separatist route to prove that he is a proud Scot.

Oh well said Mary, that was a great quote.

[Mary G]

Unlike Salmond, Chris Hoy is totally secure in his Scottish-ness and doesn’t need to go down that separatist route to prove that he is a proud Scot.

Oh well said Mary, that was a great quote.

Thanks for the compliment, Govangirl!

It is a sincerely held view.

[Trapper]

To be fair, Chris Hoy was merely trying to make the point that the scottish goverment hasnt invested enough in infrastructure for sports to have a chance of having succesful athletes.
With there only being one velodrome (in pretty poor condition) in scotland and even that under threat of closure, Hoys point was, where would he have trained? He has had to live in england for the last nine years to be able to train to get to where he is. His comments were nothing to do with the politics of the union as some people will no doubt try to insinuate.

He also made this comment when asked if he felt british or Scottish "I'm very proud to represent great britain at these olympics but if I'm being honest, there is nothing that beats the feeling of walking out at the opening of the commonwealth games with my kilt on to the sounds of scotland the brave". Or at least thats what was printed. Very diplomatic I think.

One more thing, he wasn't responding to comments by Alex Salmond but by stewart maxwell the sports minister.

[Hume]

great post trapper

yes hoy trains in england because he has too, probably not cos he wants too. i'm sure he would rather be closer to his girlfriend in edinburgh.

he trains with uk funded facilities rember, not english. it just so happens the facilities have been built in england. perhaps if we had a wee bit more control over our own affairs we would be able to built the world class facilities we need.

[Hume]

Unlike Salmond, Chris Hoy is totally secure in his Scottish-ness and doesn’t need to go down that separatist route to prove that he is a proud Scot.

Oh well said Mary, that was a great quote.

perhaps it would be a great quote if independence was all about proving how much of a proud scot you are.

its about creating a better place to live for all the people who live here be they chinese, pakistani, english, irish etc, not just scots

[Mary G]

its about creating a better place to live for all the people who live here be they chinese, pakistani, english, irish etc, not just scots

Good spot, Hume; I did think that too, after I posted it. What I meant by ‘proud Scot’ was ‘proud to represent Scotland’. So it would read:
"Chris Hoy is totally secure in his Scottish-ness and doesn’t need to go down the separatist route to prove that he is proud to represent Scotland."

And the point of all political endeavour ought to be to make this place a better place to live, regardless of creed, colour, faith, sex. To be fair to all politicians – of any party – I think that most of them, in their own way, believe that their policies will lead to the place becoming a better one in which we can all lead our lives.

[Mary G]

he wasn't responding to comments by Alex Salmond but by stewart maxwell the sports minister.

You are of course right Trapper – it was Stewart Maxwell ... but I did not hear Salmond rushing to contradict him . Much more importantly, I did not hear any athletes rushing out to back this proposal.

I did laugh though about using Jamaica as an example of a small country ... what happened to the other ‘small’ nations usually cited ... Denmark, Iceland, Norway? ‘ Oh – they didn’t do so well, so let’s gloss over that...’ not so clever, Mr Maxwell. And the Jamaicans themselves are first to recognise that their medals came only in short-distance, track events. There is a lot of debate about why that might be the case – but let’s not get into that here. Suffice to say it is unlikely that the Jamaican experience will be replicated in Scotland.

Seriously, I would be the first to back the idea of a separate Scotland team for the Olympics if I thought for a second that it would be good for Scottish sport and for our athletes. But I think that the current set-up is superior, and is very attractive to sportsmen and women, helping them fulfil their potential. And it would not simply be a matter of reproducing the investment in facilities – it involves employing – and funding - great coaches, physicians, psychologists, technologists, etc – the whole back-up team that they all enthuse over.

Hume is spot on in reminding everyone that these are UK facilities – and these can and should be located in any part of the UK, available to all UK athletes.

Your quote by Hoy, to my reading, endorses the view that there is no problem competing as a Scottish athlete at one competition, and as a GB one at a different tournament. It really is – I think – the best of both worlds.

[EMDEE]

I see that the ubiquitous Sean Connery, professional Scotsman and self-appointed oracle on all things Scottish, jumped in yesterday with his backing for a separate Scottish team at the next Olympics.

That fact in itself would put me off the idea.