Sport in Scotland

Sport plays a central role in Scottish culture. The temperate, oceanic climate has played a key part in the evolution of Sport in Scotland, with all-weather sports like football, rugby union and golf dominating the national sporting consciousness. However, many other sports are played in the country, with popularity varying between sports and between regions.

Scotland has its own sporting competitions and governing bodies, such as the Scottish Football League,the Scottish Rugby Union, Cricket Scotland, and the Scottish Cyclists' Union. The country has independent representation at many international sporting events, for example the Football World Cup and the Cricket World Cup, as well as the Commonwealth Games; although notably not the Olympic Games.

Scots, and Scottish emigrants, have made several key contributions to the history of sport, with important innovations and developments in:
golf, curling, football, Highland games (contributed to the evolution of modern athletics events), shinty (the predecessor of both ice hockey and bandy), cycling (Kirkpatrick Macmillan invented the pedal bicycle), and basketball.

Association Football

Association football (usually called just "football" in Scotland) is the national sport, both in terms of participation and numbers of spectators.

There is a long tradition of football games stretching back a number of centuries. However, it should be noted that many of these were quite different to football, and involved carrying the ball. One of these so called games was outlawed in 1424. The history of football in Scotland includes various traditional ball games, for example the Ba game; some of these early games probably involved the kicking of a ball. Uncertainty about the specific nature of these games is because prior to 1863, the term "football" implied almost any ball game that was played on ones feet and not played on horseback. Some of these local games were probably played as far back as the Middle AgesFact|date=February 2007, although the earliest contemporary accounts (as opposed to decrees simply banning "football") come in the eighteenth century. Many of these accounts refer to the violence of traditional Scottish football [ [Magoun, F.P. (1931) Scottish Popular Football, 1424-1815, The American Historical Review] ] and as a result many games were abolished or modified. Several burghs retain an annual Ba game, with the Kirkwall Ba Game in Orkney being probably the most famous form of traditional football in Scotland. Elsewhere in Scotland, the greatest evidence for a tradition of football games comes from southern Scotland, in particular the Scottish Borders.

The world's first official international football match was held in 1872 and was the idea of C. W. Alcock of the Football Association which was seeking to promote Association Football in Scotland [Minutes of the Football Association of October 3 1872, London] . The match took place at the West of Scotland Cricket Club's Hamilton Crescent ground in the Partick area of Glasgow. The match was between Scotland and England and resulted in a 0–0 draw. Following this, the newly developed football became the most popular sport in Scotland. The Scottish Cup is the world's oldest national trophy, first contested in 1873 (although the FA Cup is an older competition, its original trophy is no longer in existence). Queen's Park F.C., in Glasgow, is probably the oldest association football club in the world outside England.

The Scottish Football Association (SFA), the second-oldest national football association in the world, is the main governing body for Scottish football, and a founding member of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) which governs the Laws of the Game. As a result of this key role in the development of the sport Scotland is one of only four countries to have a permanent representative on the IFAB; the other four representatives being appointed for set periods by FIFA. The SFA also has responsibility for the Scotland national football team.

The national stadium is Hampden Park in Glasgow. Supporters of the national team are nicknamed the Tartan Army. As of November 2007, Scotland are ranked as the 14th best national football team in the FIFA World Rankings. They have improved steadily after Walter Smith took over as manager, beating 2006 World Cup finalists France in a European Championship qualifier. The national team last attended the World Cup in France in 1998, but finished last in their group stage after defeats to runners-up Brazil and Morocco. They won a single point after a one-all draw with Norway.

Elite club football in Scotland is split between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League.

Scotland's football clubs have had a relatively high degree of success internationally Fact|date=February 2007. In terms of European competitions, Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen have all won European competitions, however Celtic are the only team to have won the European Cup (now the Champions League), Europe's premier competition. Celtic won this cup in 1967 becoming the first British team (and the first from northern Europe) to do so. Their victory is an important one in football history with the competition being won with a team comprising no players born more than thirty miles (48 km) from the home of the club, Celtic Park.

The most successful teams over the years have been the Old Firm: Rangers and Celtic. Glasgow is therefore home to some of Europe's best football stadiaFact|date=February 2007. With Celtic Park (60,832 seats), Ibrox Park (50,411 seats) and Hampden Park (52,670 seats), Glasgow is one of the fewFact|date=February 2007 European cities to have three football stadia each with at least 50,000 seat capacity. Ibrox and Hampden are both UEFA 5-star rated football stadia, making Glasgow, along with Madrid and Barcelona, one of the only cities in the world with two 5-star stadia, however Celtic Park is not: Nationally, only Germany (five), Portugal (three) and Spain (five) have more top-rated stadia, while Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey all also have two.

Rugby League

Rugby League is administered by Scotland Rugby League. The main international team has been playing since 1909 although their first proper international wasn't until 1996 when they beat Ireland in Dublin 6-26. In the 2000 Rugby League World Cup, Scotland finished last in their group, although only narrowly lost to Ireland, Samoa and New Zealand. The latter two matches were played in Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively.

A major boost to rugby league in Scotland came when the Challenge Cup Final was brought to Murrayfield, Edinburgh. On both occasions over 60,000 watched the final. This was coupled with a fantastic 42-20 win over France in July 2001, possibly one of Scotland's best wins in their short history.

The domestic game in Scotland drastically changed in 2003 when a new league was formed incorporating six teams into the Rugby League Conference umbrella. There are now several teams, Easterhouse Panthers, Jordanhill Phoenix and Paisley Hurricanes from Glasgow, Edinburgh Eagles from Edinburgh, Moray Eels from Lossiemouth, Fife Lions from Dunfermline and Carluke Tigers from Carluke. Fife Lions and Edinburgh Eagles have been the most successful teams, both having won the league recently. There are plans to expand the league and possibly have another team in Glasgow, as well as one from the Borders.

In 2007 Scotland qualified for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup after beating Wales 21-14 at Bridgend, before losing 18-16 in Glasgow. The points advantage allowed them through and they will play in Group B against France and Fiji in Australia in November 2008.

Scotland also have another team, labelled 'The Bravehearts'. This is a team made up of players entirely from the five Scottish Conference teams.

Rugby Union

Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. Murrayfield Stadium, in Edinburgh, is the home of the Scotland national rugby union team. Scotland are ranked 10th, in the IRB world rankings [This is correct as of April 2008, [http://www.irb.com/rankings/index.html] ] . They annually take part in the Six Nations and participate in the Rugby World Cup, which takes place every four years. Scottish players are also eligible for selection for the British and Irish Lions, a composite team that tours the Southern hemisphere every 4 years.

The roots of Scottish rugby go back a long way. Many ba games played in Scotland, and referred to as "football" were frequently as similar to rugby as they were to soccer.

The Scottish Football Union (SFU) was founded in 1873 and was a founding member of the International Rugby Board in 1886 with Ireland and Wales. (England refused to join until 1890). In 1924 the SFU changed its name to become the Scottish Rugby Union.cite web| url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/sportscotland/asportingnation/article/0020/print.shtml |title=First Scottish Grand Slam |publisher=bbc.co.uk |accessdate=2007-10-27 |last=MacDonald |first=Paul]

The world's oldest continual rugby fixture was first played in 1858 between Merchiston Castle School and the former pupils of The Edinburgh Academy. The Edinburgh Academy was also involved in the first ever international rugby union game when a side representing England met the Scottish national side on the cricket field of the Academy at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh on March 27, 1871, which Scotland won. The national side today competes in the annual Six Nations Championship and has appeared at every Rugby World Cup. Scotland have two professional sides that compete in the Magners League and the Heineken Cup - Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors. Until 2007 there was a third side, Border Reivers, but the side were disbanded due to funding problems in the SRU. The BT League Championship exists for amateur and semi-pro clubs. Even the top professional sides struggle to attract crowds comparable to that of English or Welsh clubs but the national side regularly fill Murrayfield for Six Nations fixtures.

Rugby union is most popular in the Borders region, where it is played widely, and this is probably the only area of Scotland where rugby is the most popular sport, although it has a strong presence in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perthshire.

Rugby sevens

Rugby sevens is a variant of rugby union, which was initially conceived by Ned Haig, a butcher from Melrose, Scotland as a fundraising event for his local club, Melrose RFC, in 1883. The first ever sevens match was played at the Greenyards, where it was well received. The first ever officially sanctioned international tournament occurred at Murrayfield as part of the "Scottish Rugby Union's celebration of rugby" centenary celebrations in 1973. Due to the success of the format, the ongoing Hong Kong Sevens was launched three years later, and numerous other international competitions followed. In 1993, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, in which the "Melrose Cup" is contested, was launched, which is named after its town of origin. In the meantime, the Melrose Sevens continue to be popular [http://www.melrose7s.com/] and there is a healthy Borders Sevens Circuit. Starting in 2007, the annual IRB Sevens World Series, featuring international sides from around the world, has ended with the Edinburgh Sevens at Murrayfield.

American Football

American Football has been played in Scotland since the 1980's.

It is played on an amateur basis throughout Scotland in the same way as the rest of the United Kingdom. There are 14 under 18 teams ranging from Inverness in the North, Inverclyde in the West through to Edinburgh in the East. Glasgow Caledonian, Glasgow, Napier, Paisley and Stirling all field teams in the British Universities American Football League.

5 teams currently play in the British American Football League with Glasgow Tigers and Edinburgh Wolves in division 2, Dundee Hurricanes and West Coast Trojans (Renfrew) in division 1 and East Kilbride Pirates playing in the Premier Division.

A profesional team (the Scottish Claymores) played in NFL Europe between 1995 and 2004 based in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Lawrence Tynes, Joe Andruzzi and Dante Hall all played for the team and went on to have success in the NFL.

Athletics

scottishathletics is the governing body for athletics in Scotland. It replaced the Scottish Athletics Federation in April 2001.

Australian Rules Football

Aussie Rules has never had a high profile in Scotland, but it is notable that Scots played an important role in setting up some of the clubs in Australia. Scots living in Melbourne and Victoria in the mid-19th century were greatly involved in the formation of the rules of the game, as well as the formation of a number of early clubs, including the still-existing Essendon Bombers in the elite Australian Football League in Melbourne, Australia. The team, Glasgow Redbacks wear black jumpers with a red diagonal stripe across the front, the same as worn by Essendon Football Club. This is said to recognise the Scottish roots of Essendon, which was formed in 1871 by a Scots family who had moved to Melbourne. It is also rumoured - though unconfirmed - that Aussie Rules was played in Scotland pre-WWI.

There are currently four teams in SARFL, most established in the early 2000s. There was an abortive attempt during the 1990s to set up the Caledonia Sharks. Until recently, Scottish Aussie Rules tended to be subsumed to the British leagues, but this is less the case now.

Badminton

BADMINTONscotland is the national governing body for the sport of badminton in Scotland.

Baseball

Baseball has existed in Edinburgh since the 1930s when it was played at US air bases at Kirknewton and East Fortune. The British Baseball Federation has a Scotland Division [http://www.baseballsoftballuk.com/gen_insert.php?from_level3=Articles&db_story=1620&this_page=baseballnews] comprised of the Edinburgh Diamond Devils, the Glasgow Baseball Association, and the Strathclyde Falcons. As of 2007, the Glasgow Baseball Association formed a senior team for those players who wanted to play baseball at the club beyond the age of 16, they won their first game against the Manchester A's. There have been only 8 Scottish baseball players to play in the Major leagues, the last being Tom Waddell in 1987. Baseball is a minority sport in Scotland and is only played at an amateur level. However baseball is expanding in the country, in June 2007 a youth baseball team in Fife was founded.

Basketball

basketballscotland is the governing body of basketball in Scotland.

Cricket

Cricket has a much lower profile in Scotland than it has south of the border in England. Scotland is not one of the ten leading cricketing nations which play Test matches, but the Scottish national team is now allowed to play full One Day Internationals even outside the Cricket World Cup, in which Scotland competed in 2007. Scotland has a well established recreational cricket structure. Scotland has co-hosted the Cricket World Cup in 1999.

Cycling

Cycling is a popular amateur sport, with 99 clubs throughout the country, from the Shetland Wheelers to the Stewartry Wheelers. At the elite level, Scots have been more successful at track cycling rather than road racing, although Scotland has a long history of time-trialing on the road. The lack of road races within the country, with not a single UCI-ranked event, is largely to do with the refusal of Scottish local authorities to close public roads to allow road races to take place safely. Scotland has one velodrome, at Meadowbank Stadium, in Edinburgh. Another is under construction in Glasgow for 2014 Commonwealth Games. The governing body is the Scottish Cyclists' Union.

In recent years mountain biking has become very popular, with Scottish geography being ideal for training and racing. The Fort William World Cup event has become the highlight of the series.

Scotland has produced several world-class cyclists. Probably the most renowned champion outwith Scotland is the great Robert Millar, a King of the Mountains, and fourth-place overall, at the 1984 Tour de France; and very nearly a winner of the 1985 Vuelta a España (where the strange manner of his defeat to Pedro Delgado is still a matter of some controversy). He came second in the 1987 Giro d'Italia and second twice in the Vuelta: 1985 and 1986. Indeed Millar is widely considered to be the best cyclist to have ever come out of the UK (although many would also argue the merits of the Englishman Tom Simpson).

In the 2008 Bejing Olympic games, Chris Hoy became the most succesful British olympian in over 100 years when he cycled to 3 golds in the velodrome in sprint events (Sprint, team sprint and keirin). His achivements earned him the honor of carrying the nations flag in the closing cermony and has made him a household name.

Graeme Obree, and David Millar (no relation) have also reached the very peak of their respective events.

Curling

Scotland is the home of curling (2002 Olympic champions, women) which, although not as popular today as in Canada, remains more popular in Scotland than anywhere else in Europe. Scotland are the current (2006) men's World curling champions, and have won World championship gold on 3 previous occasions.

Golf

Scotland is the "Home of Golf", and is well-known for its many links courses, including the Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield and Royal Troon.

Highland games

The Highland Games are a distinctive feature of the national sporting culture. There are numerous annual games hosted in the Highlands including Braemar and Dunoon.

Judo

Scots have been very prominent on the podium at the Judo events at the Commonwealth Games. Judo is absent from the programme of events at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, but is likely to return at future Games.

Shinty

Shinty or camanachd is the traditional game of the Scottish Highlands, although historically it had a wider range. It is still played widely across the area today, with clubs also based in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Fife and Perth, and in most universities. Its governing body is the Camanachd Association (in Scottish Gaelic, "Comunn na Camanachd") who are based in Fort William.

The sport's premier prize is the Scottish Cup, more popularly known as the Camanachd Cup. Shinty also has the honour of having provided, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the world's most successful sporting team, Kingussie Camanachd. Shinty was formerly played through the Winter but has recently become a primarily Summer game. It has common roots with the Irish sport of Hurling.

Snooker

Scotland has produced many great snooker players over the years. Many of which have gone on to win the World Championship. Walter Donaldson was the first Scotsman to be crowned World Champion, winning in 1947 and again in 1950.

In the modern snooker era the most successful Scottish snooker player is Stephen Hendry. He has won the World Snooker Championship 7 times, winning it 5 years in a row from 1992 onwards and holds the record as being the youngest ever winner, beating Englishman Jimmy White 18 frames to 12 in 1990 aged just 21m, and the record for the most wins.

Since the emergence of Stephen Hendry in 1990 a Scottish player has featured in almost every World Snooker Championship Final 1991, 2000, 2003 and 2005 and being the only years since 1990 when a Scottish player hasn't made it to the final and winning 10 of the 17 championships contested in this time. Scottish winners besides Hendry include John Higgins and Graeme Dott.Stephen Maguire is also an emerging talent in sport with a number of event wins on the tour.

Speedway

Scotland currently has two Motorcycle Speedway teams racing in the UK Premier League, Glasgow Tigers and Edinburgh Monarchs. History and more detail to follow (feb 2007). It is a big sport in Scotland.

Swimming

The governing body is the Scottish Amateur Swimming Association.

Tennis

Tennis has a very long history in Scotland, with real tennis being played at Falkland Palace, Fife. Scotland competes as Great Britain in tennis, however its contribution to the pool of British players has been traditionally been very poor in the modern era with almost all notable players being English. However, this has taken an about turn in recent years with emergence of Andy Murray and his brother Jamie. Andy Murray is by some distance the best player currently representing Britain and is the UK number 1 and comfortably inside the world top 10, brother Jamie is a highly ranked doubles individual and won the mixed doubles along with Serbian Jelena Janković, the first time any British player has won a major title in Wimbledon in 20 years. There are no official ATP tournaments in Scotland however, with all major events in Britain being contested in England.

The Aberdeen Cup, established in 2005, is an annual competition between the Scotland and England tennis teams.

chool Sport

The leading body for physical education in the United Kingdom is the Association for Physical Education. This includes sports such as benchball (similar to the American Dodgeball but you catch instead) and Gaelic handball, which is similar to American handball.

Olympic Games

Scottish athletes have competed at every Olympic Games, since the inaugural modern Games, as part of the Great Britain and Ireland team (prior to Irish independence) and then the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team. A Scot, Launceston Elliot, won Great Britain and Ireland's very first Olympic gold medal, in 1896 in Athens. The most notable Scots athletes are Eric Liddell, (whose story is featured in the internationally celebrated film Chariots of Fire) and Alan Wells, the Olympic 100m winner in 1980.

Scotland have only ever won one Olympic medal as "Scotland", when the men's field hockey team won a bronze medal at the 1908 Summer Games. This was also the only occasion when either England (gold) or Wales (bronze) have won a medal in their own right; and was Ireland's only medal (silver) prior to independence. The curling gold medal in Chamonix in 1924 was won by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club team, the Scottish national team, and the women's curling gold in Salt Lake City in 2002 was won by the top Scottish team at the time, skipped by Rhona Martin.

cottish summer Olympic medallists

Expand list|date=August 2008 [cite web |title= Scotland's Olympic medallists since 1896| work=Daily Record| url= http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/olympics/2008/08/04/scotland-s-olympic-medallists-since-1896-86908-20684101/|date= 4 August 2008| accessdate=31 August| accessyear=2008]

1896 Athens

*Launceston Elliot, Gold, weightlifting, one-handed
*Launceston Elliot, Silver, weightlifting, two-handed

1900 Paris

*Walter Rutherford, Silver, Golf
*David Robertson, Bronze, Golf

1904 Athens

*John McGough Silver 1,500 m
*Wyndham Halswelle Silver 400 m
*Wyndham Halswelle Bronze 800 m

1908 London

*Arthur Robertson, Gold, Team steeplechase
*Wyndham Halswelle, Gold, 400 m
*Angus Gillan, Gold, Coxless fours
*George Cornet, Gold, Water polo
*Royal Clyde Yacht Club, Gold, 12 metres class
*Arthur Robertson, Silver, Steeplechase
*Alex McCulloch, Silver, Single sculls
*Hugh Roddin, Bronze, Featherweight boxing
*Scotland, Bronze, Hockey

1912 Stockholm

*Philip Fleming, Gold, Rowing eights
*Angus Gillan, Gold, Rowing eights
*William Kinnear, Gold, Single sculls
*Henry Macintosh, Gold, Men's 4x100m Relay
*Robert Murray, Gold, Small bore shooting
*George Cornet, Gold, Water polo
*Isabella Moore, Gold, 100 m freestyle swimming
*James Soutter, Bronze, 400 m relay
*John Sewell, Silver, Tug of war team

1920 Antwerp

*Robert Lindsay, Gold, 400 m relay
*John Sewell, Gold, Tug of war team
*William Peacock, Gold, Water polo
*James Wilson, Silver, Cross country team
*Alexander Ireland, Silver, Welterweight boxing
*James Wilson, Bronze, 10,000 m
*George McKenzie, Bronze, Bantamweight bronze

1924 Paris

*Eric Liddell, Gold, 400 m
*Eric Liddell, Bronze, 200 m
*James McNabb, Gold, Coxless fours
*James McKenzie, Silver, Lightweight boxing
*Archie Macdonald, Bronze, 100 kg freestyle wrestling

1928 Amsterdam

*Ellen King, Silver, 100 m backstroke swimming
*Ellen King, Silver, 100 m freestyle relay swimming
*Sarah Stewart, Silver, 100 m freestyle relay swimming

1948 London

*Alistair McCorquodale, Silver, 4x100 m relay
*David Brodie, Silver, Hockey team
*Robin Lindsay, Silver, Hockey team
*William Lindsay, Silver, Hockey team
*George Sime, Silver, Hockey team
*Neil White, Silver, Hockey team
*Catherine Gibson, Bronze, 400 m freestyle swimming

1952 Helsinki

*Douglas Stewart, Gold, Equestrian showjumping team
*Stephen Theobald, Bronze, Hockey team
*Helen Gordon, Bronze, 200 m breaststroke swimming

1956 Melbourne

*Dick McTaggart, Gold, Lightweight boxing
*John McCormack, Bronze, Light middleweight boxing

1960 Rome

*Dick McTaggart, Bronze, Lightweight boxing

1964 Tokyo

*Bobby McGregor, Silver, 100 m freestyle swimming

1968 Mexico

*Rodney Pattison, Gold, Yachting Flying Dutchman

1972 Munich

*Rodney Pattison, Gold, Yachting Flying Dutchman
*David Jenkins, Silver, 400 m relay team
*David Wilkie, Silver, 200 m breaststroke swimming
*Ian Stewart, Bronze, 5,000 m

1976 Montreal

*David Wilkie, Gold, 200 m breaststroke swimming
*David Wilkie, Silver, 100 m breaststroke swimming
*Rodney Pattison, Silver, Yachting Flying Dutchman
*Alan McClatchey, Bronze, 200 m freestyle swimming relay
*Gordon Downie, Bronze, 200 m freestyle swimming relay

1980 Moscow

*Allan Wells, Gold, 100 m
*Allan Wells, Silver, 200 m
*Linsey Macdonald, Bronze, 400 m relay team

1984 Los Angeles

*Richard Budgett, Gold, Rowing coxed fours
*Ian Stark, Silver, Equestrian 3-day event team
*Veryan Pappin, Bronze, Hockey team
*Alister Allan, Bronze, Smallbore free rifle
*Neil Cochran, Bronze, 200 m medley swimming
*Neil Cochran, Bronze, 200 m freestyle relay
*Paul Easter, Bronze, 200 m freestyle relay

1988 Seoul

*Veryan Pappin, Gold, Hockey team
*Michael McIntyre, Gold, Yachting star class
*Liz McColgan, Silver, 10,000 m
*Elliot Bunney, Silver, 4x100 m relay
*Ian Stark, Silver, Equestrian 3-day event team
*Alister Allan, Silver, Smallbore free rifle
*Yvonne Murray, Bronze, 3,000 m

1992 Barcelona

*Simon Terry, Bronze, Archery individual
*Simon Terry, Bronze, Archery team
*Susan Fraser, Bronze, Hockey team
*Wendy Fraser, Bronze, Hockey team
*Alison Ramsay, Bronze, Hockey team

1996 Atlanta

*Graeme Smith, Bronze, 1,500 m freestyle swimming

2000 Sydney

*Andrew Lindsay, Gold, Rowing men's eight
*Shirley Robertson, Gold, Sailing Europe class
*Stephanie Cook, Gold, Modern pentathlon
*Chris Hoy, Silver, Cycling Olympic sprint team
*Craig MacLean, Silver, Cycling Olympic sprint team
*Ian Stark, Silver, Equestrian 3-day event team
*Gillian Lindsay, Silver, Rowing quadruple sculls
*Katherine Grainger, Silver, Rowing quadruple sculls
*Mark Covell, Silver, Sailing star class

2004 Athens

*Chris Hoy, Gold, Cycling 1 km time-trial
*Shirley Robertson, Gold, Sailing Yngling class
*Katherine Grainger, Silver, Rowing Women's pairs
*Campbell Walsh, Silver, Canoeing K1 Kayak (slalom)

2008 Beijing

*Chris Hoy, Gold, Cycling, Keirin
*Chris Hoy, Gold, Cycling, Sprint
*Chris Hoy, Gold, Cycling, Team Sprint
*Ross Edgar, Silver, Cycling, Keirin
*Katherine Grainger, Silver, Rowing, Quadruple sculls
*David Florence, Silver, Canoeing Slalom C-1

cottish winter Olympic medallists

1924 Chamonix

*Royal Caledonian Curling Club, Gold, Curling

1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen

*James Foster, Gold, ice hockey

2002 Salt Lake City

*Scottish team skipped by Rhona Martin, Gold, Curling

Commonwealth Games

Motorsport

Scotland has been successful in all forms of motor racing especially since it's growth in popularity since World War II. Several Scottish drivers have had illustrious careers at the top level and success has come in many different championships including Formula One, The World Rally Championship, Le Mans 24 hours, CART, and the British Touring Car Championship.

Formula One

Scotland has had several Formula One drivers over the years since the championship commenced in 1950. A full list of these drivers can be found at . Of these drivers the best known are Jim Clark, who won 2 World Championships before his untimely death, Jackie Stewart who managed to gain 3 World Championships and David Coulthard who still races in the championship for the Red Bull Racing team. Coulthard has been Scotland's most successful driver in recent memory having runner up in the World Drivers Championships a number of times and is the front running British Driver in the all-time lists. No round of F1 has however been held in Scotland making the country one of the most successful countries without hosting a race.

Rallying

The McRae family are Scotland's best known rally drivers, in particular Colin McRae who won the WRC in 1995. He also managed to affirm his popularity by adding his name to a series of successful rally games. Louise Aitken-Walker made significant inroads into the male-dominated sport. Scotland also hosts a number of minor rally events and has hosted the British round of the WRC however this now takes place almost exclusively in Wales.

Le Mans

Allan McNish has competed in both F1 in 2002 for Toyota and in German Touring cars Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), but is best known for his 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans victory with the Porsche team. Peter Dumbreck has also competed in the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, and is better known for his infamous accident in the 1999 event where his Mercedes-Benz CLR car suffered aerodynamic problems and took off, somersaulting through the air.

BTCC

In British Touring Car Championship Scotland has had a had a double champion in John Cleland. A number of drivers have raced successfully in recent years including Anthony Reid and David Leslie. One round of the championship is annually held in Scotland.

American Race Series

Some Scottish drivers have had success in the American series of mainly oval racing. Currently Dario Franchitti from Bathgate, competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup competition having previously raced very successfully in CART. Allan McNish currently competes in the "American Le Mans" ALMS series where he made history by driving the first diesel powered race-car in the series to victory.

cottish circuits

Which there are a number of smaller circuits for private use in Scotland and a number of rally stages, the only circuit to host top level circuit motor racing in Scotland is Knockhill in Fife.

Floorball

Not amongst the most popular sports but has grown in recent years with 8 teams taking part in the 2007/08 season. The overseer is the Northern League but the governing body of UK floorball is the [http://www.gbff.org.uk/ GBFF] .

Teams competing in the 2007/08 season are Aberdeen Oilers, Balwearie Lightning, Balwearie Thunder, Chapel, Dundee Northern Lights, Forth Phoniex, Hawick and RBS Linlithgow.

Sports media

Scotland has a distinct set of media products, especially when it comes to sports coverage. The main Scottish daily newspapers, the "Daily Record", "The Herald" and "The Scotsman", have extensive coverage of Scottish and international sport; and coverage of Scottish sport is one of the key tools used by Scottish editions of English newspapers, most successfully employed by "The Scottish Sun". However, there is a tendency for the majority of coverage to be of football.

There is also a variety of magazine titles. Titles include "The Celtic View", "Rangers News", "Bunkered", "Scottish Club Golfer" and "Rally Action".

The main sports television shows on the largest two channels are "Scotsport" on STV and ITV1 Border Scotland (which is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's longest running sports television programme) and "Sportscene" on BBC Scotland. BBC Radio Scotland's main sports show is "Sportsound", and it has other sports output, for example the comedy show "Off the Ball". All the main independent radio stations report on local sport, and often cover football matches live (although not the SPL, to which the BBC hold exclusive radio rights).

BBC Alba's Spòrs shows one full SPL match.

See also

*BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year
*Sportscotland
*Scottish Institute of Sport
*Scotsport
*Sport in Glasgow
*Sport in the United Kingdom
* Association for Physical Education

References

External links

* [http://www.sundayherald.com/54826 Executive urged to target future swimming success] , Sunday Herald
* [http://www.sportscotland.org.uk/pages/download.aspx?id=%7BF43627C4-FFB4-4282-AA40-3875165F0D74%7D PDF - Scottish Summer Olympic Medal Winners] , compiled by sportscotland
* [http://www.afpe.org.uk Association for Physical Education] Association for Physical Education afPE Official website