Swimming: Dougie planning year out for London 2012 bid

May 4 2011 by Paul Thomson, East Kilbride News

SWIMMER Douglas Scott is set to take a year out of university in a bid to make the London 2012 Olympics.

The 19-year-old from Strathaven is one second off the expected Olympic qualifying time for the 100m breaststroke and with just over 12 months until the world’s attention turns to the London Games, Douglas is aiming to put his studies for a mathematics and economics degree at Stirling University on hold.

His sister Corrie already has experience of a major Games following her involvement in last year’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi and Douglas is looking to follow in her footsteps by competing at a major international event.

London 2012 begins on July 27 next year and Douglas is aiming to use as much time as possible between now and then to make sure he gets his shot at a home Games.

He told the News: “I’m trying to take a year out to concentrate on my swimming, but it’s proving difficult at the moment because I might have to give up some of my funding to do so.

“If I can get the time out it would make a huge difference. It would allow me to focus on things in the pool and eating better.

“At the moment it’s about trying to qualify in the top two for the British Championships. If I can make that and take a second off my time in the 100m breaststroke then I’ve got a chance of making London.

“Next year is the biggest year in our sport and we won’t get the chance again to compete at a home Olympics, so it’s a massive thing for everyone who is British.

“It would mean so much to me if I made it. It would mean all the training I’ve done for all those years has mattered for something and been totally worthwhile.

“To make London 2012 would be huge, but even if I did manage to qualify, there’s still a lot of work to be done.

“It’s not just about getting there and being grateful for that – I would still need to go out and perform and, hopefully, I will get the chance to do that.”

Douglas’ coach, Ian Wright, has been influential in his bid to take time out from academia and the break would certainly do him well in the short-term as well with a whole series of events on the horizon.

The former Strathaven Academy pupil added: “Ian had mentioned it to me and there are a few other guys taking time out to improve themselves over the next year or so.

“I’ve got a run of four big events coming up over the next couple of months, so I’m going to be pretty busy.

“There’s the Celtic Tri-Nation in Wales at the end of May, the Mare Nostrum series at the start of June which is a massive one because there’s lots of top swimmers involved in that.

“After that there are the National Trial in Sheffield in the same month and the Scottish Championships after that. It will be hectic, but my aim over the course of that time is to build on my performances and times at the British Championships back in March.”