Duncan Scott’s former swim coach has spoken of her pride after the former Strathallan School pupil claimed an Olympic silver in the pool.
Elaine Johnston, who coached Scott at the Perthshire school from aged 12 through to 18, watched the men’s 200m freestyle final live in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The former Strathallan pupil won silver in a time of 1:44:26, with Scott’s Team GB teammate Tom Dean taking gold. Scott finished just 0.04secs behind his teammate.
It’s the third time the Glasgow born swimmer has won silver at an Olympic games, having won two silver medals in the relays in Rio five years ago.
“We’re really proud of him”
Elaine said: “It was a really good race.
“There was a lot of people that could’ve taken it but as usual Duncan just kept calm and paced himself – just left a bit too much to do in the end I think.
“We’re really proud of him. He’s got a personal best time and a new Scottish record and you can’t really ask for more than that.”
The Scot, who is now based in Stirling, is also slated to race in the men’s 2o0 Individual Medley, as well as the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays later this week.
And Elaine, who herself competed for Team Scotland in the 1986 Commonwealth Games, is confident he can replicate this morning’s success in these upcoming events.
She said: “He’ll know himself what his race strategy is and he will control what he can for his own race and it’s just a case of what happens with everyone else.”
Elaine was also full of praise for the achievements of Team GB, with Scott’s silver and Tom Dean’s gold adding to Adam Peaty’s gold in the 100m breaststroke final yesterday.
This morning’s 200m freestyle final is also the first time since 1908 that two male British swimmers have finished on the Olympic podium together.
Elaine added: “It’s a great inspiration for any youngster throughout the U.K and Scotland.”
“There are no shortcuts”
Elaine, who is originally from Dundee and attended Grove Academy, had previously said that it was no surprise that her former pupil has achieved success so far in his career.
Speaking yesterday, she said: “Duncan was at Strathallan from an early age right up until he finished his education and the whole time he was dedicated to swimming.
“Swimming is a tough sport, there are no shortcuts and you don’t rely on anybody else – you’ve got to be in there doing the work yourself.
“You’ve got to be in it for the long game. It’s not going to happen with just two years of training and then you make the Olympics, it’s a lot of hard graft which he has done.
“He worked really hard, he was very grounded and he got on with the work so we always knew there was a high chance that he could reach where he has so far.”
