'Mariah Cleggy' channels Messi to swim to gold before relay team take bronze
Image source, PA Media
Image caption,Stephen Clegg is one of three siblings to have competed in top-level swimming
ByRichard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland at Tollcross International Swimming Centre
Updated 39 minutes ago
Stephen Clegg's coach thinks he's a bit of a diva. "He likes to call me Mariah Cleggy," the Scottish swimmer said.
And the 30-year-old certainly brought the drama to Tollcross on Tuesday, rampaging his way to an unexpected victory in the Commonwealth Games 50m freestyle S14.
The triumph took the host nation's tally to seven golds - and a total of 14 medals - on day five of the 11-day competition and added to the silver Clegg claimed on the opening night in the 100m version of the event.
Medal 15 came little over two hours later, when the 4 x 200m mixed medley quartet thrashed their way to a scarcely-believable bronze in the final race of the evening.
Matthew Ward, and individual medallists Angharad Evans, Keanna MacInnes and Duncan Scott edged out Canada in a hugely-exciting conclusion.
It means Scotland's most decorated Games athlete Scott becomes that bit more decorated - adding his 15th medal across four Commonwealths - while Evans and MacInnes double their tally within the space of a few days.
Each will race again in finals during Wednesday's final session in the pool with the prospect of an even more successful week in sight.
'My coach said Messi only shows up for World Cup'
Clegg's gold in the first race of the night was not at all bad for a man who thought his career might be done earlier this season.
After double Paralympic gold in Paris in 2024, Clegg required surgery to address a growth inside his shoulder. A bit of bone shaving. Nothing hugely serious, he says.
But the physical and mental receipts of that have lingered for the man who grew up in the Borders town of Newcastleton with sister Libby - a double Paralympic champion from 2012 - and older brother James, who was tied fourth in this race.
All three have stargardt macular dystrophy, which affects their vision.
"The gold in Paris was special because it was a really tough journey to get there. But this has been more challenging in some ways," he told BBC Sport Scotland.
"It wasn't necessarily a realistic... I don't know if realistic is the right word but I was prepared to not win gold. But I think I swam beyond myself today."
Figure caption,'I swam beyond myself' - Scotland's Clegg on winning gold
Clegg added: "My coach said something a bit silly earlier, which was that [footballer] Lionel Messi only shows up for the World Cup, and he meant that my experience allows me to step up for these big moments when all season I've been swimming a bit crap.
"He will hopefully agree that I've done that tonight."
And how. Clegg attacked the second 50m of the race with relish and pulled away from his rivals to post a time of 24.73 seconds, half a second quicker than he has gone all year.
It also upgraded the silver he won in Birmingham over the distance - achieved when he was not only four years younger, but in much better shape physically.
All that was playing through his mind as he stood on the podium, lip trembling and trying hard to keep his shape, as Flower of Scotland played.
"I was really struggling to keep it together," said Clegg, who had missed his sister's wedding amid the preparations for these Games. "Once the anthem started playing, I just started shaking and started to tear up a little bit.
"I'm a very emotional person, but I don't really let them out very often. And for me to show that emotion kind of, I think, speaks louder than words for me.
"Every time I tried to articulate it, I've fallen short of the actual feeling. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I think nothing in my career can really beat that moment. Even winning gold at Paris."
Scott cuts through bedlam to clinch relay medal
Scott has experienced that, too, and he needed every bit of his nous and nerve to add to his Games tally here.
The mixed medley is a fascinating event. Eight teams of four. Two men, two women in each. Four separate strokes. Two lengths per swimmer. Beyond that, it's bedlam.
Men race women. Women race men. Leads open up and disappear again in a blur of foam. And the noise, not just from the crowds, but the howling athletes too is quite something to behold.
Ward started the Scots off strongly on his backstroke, finishing his shift with the hosts second. Breaststroke gold medallist Evans plunged in next and maintained that position, despite most other nations choosing men for that leg.
MacInnes was on the butterfly. But two of the fastest male fly swimmers in the world were on either side of her. Australia's Matthew Temple and Joshua Liendo of Canada - twice the size and significantly quicker - scorched predictably past the individual silver medallist like she wasn't there.
It left Scott to take over in sixth place. He might have well have started in the city centre, so far behind was he.
But the 29-year-old made up more than four seconds to touch the wall fractionally ahead of Canada's helpless Ella Jansen and spark wild celebrations around Tollcross and win his first relay medal of the week in his third attempt.
"It felt especially special," Scott told BBC Sport Scotland. "I've had a couple of frustrating relays and maybe not delivered quite how I might have wanted for the boys, but that is a nice way to lead us all into the last day."
