Team’s pride after record medal haul reverses slide, and knocks Australia off top of the table, while inspired hosts Scotland double their previous tally
It was more a measured response to a specific question than a patriotic roar, but the words still crept out of Jan Paterson’s mouth: “We smashed it”.
With the curtain drawn on the 20th edition of the Commonwealth Games, Team England’s chef de mission was able to reflect on a job well done.
Not only had they had ended Australia’s 28-year stint at the top of the medal table, they had also set a new record in the process: 174 medals – consisting of 58 golds, 59 silvers and 57 bronzes – meant Glasgow was officially England’s best Commonwealth Games in history.
That the landmark had already been achieved with a day to spare was simply salt in Australia’s wounds. Gold medals on the final afternoon for Lizzie Armitstead in the road race and husband-and-wife badminton mixed doubles pair Chris and Gabby Adcock were nothing more than a bonus.
From the high of 53 gold medals in Manchester 12 years ago to the lows of 36 and 37 in Melbourne and Delhi respectively, the slump was definitively over.
“We are immensely proud of our achievements,” said Paterson. “To be top of the medal table is a unique position for us to be in. Our aspiration was of reversing the slide in Delhi on the medal table. Well we haven’t just reversed it, we smashed it. It’s a great feeling.”
Shorn of headline stars such as Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill, the most encouraging element of England’s success was that a healthy chunk of it came from previously unknown sources. Indeed, no star shone brighter than Claudia Fragapane.
Arriving in Glasgow as a relative unknown, the 16-year-old left not only as one of the brightest gymnastics talents the country has produced, but with stardom undoubtedly on the horizon. The dynamic 4ft 6in ‘Pocket Rocket’ dazzled with her street-dance inspired routines on her way to becoming the first Englishwoman to win four golds at a single Commonwealth Games since swimmer Joyce Cooper in 1930.
Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, the youngest British swimmer to compete at the London Olympics two years ago, was another who came of age, equalling the record of six medals won at a single Games, while Ben Proud and Adam Peaty were further examples of breakthrough English success stories in the pool, with two gold medals apiece.
“We set our goal and we’ve not only achieved it but exceeded it,” said Paterson. “For the team that is here, especially because they are such a young team, the potential going forward is massive.
“Looking to the Gold Coast [Commonwealth Games in 2018] and beyond, I think it’s a real step up and a lot of the athletes who are here have benefited from what Team England has done. The average age of our medallists is 24 so the future is looking bright.”
Glory was not confined to the those making their big breakthrough in Glasgow. There was also joy for a number of more established competitors, with Olympic medallist Max Whitlock eclipsing celebrity team-mate Louis Smith to become a triple gymnastics champion.
Nicola Adams won the first women’s Commonwealth Games boxing gold medal, Tom Daley retained his 10 metre platform title and brothers Alastair and Jonathan Brownlee ensured both individual and team triathlons were an all-England affair.
Daley, who also claimed synchronised 10m platform silver, says the hope now is for England’s triumph in Glasgow to have the same effect as Britain’s recent Olympic accomplishments. “It shows the legacy of London 2012 and hopefully we can see a legacy of these Commonwealth Games,” he said. “In 10 years’ time we could be the most dominant country at the Commonwealth Games and even at the Olympics.”
When Team Scotland posted a pre-Commonwealth Games target of breaking their record 33-medal haul of Edinburgh 1986, the declaration was not just the bravado of a host nation looking to capitalise on home advantage. Years of planning and investment had gone in to making sure Glasgow 2014 would be lifted by the success of Scottish athletes, and the results were spectacular.
Surpassing that previous best tally halfway through the Games, the hosts ended with 53 medals – more than double the 26 won at the last Games – and finished fourth in the medal table.
It was away from the abstract world of numbers that the hosts really shone, however, as a set of Scottish stars gave the home crowd memories to treasure: The smile of 13-year-old swimmer Erraid Davies after winning bronze; the determination of athletes Lynsey Sharp and Eilidh Child to live up to the hype and claim silver medals in front of an elated Hampden Park crowd; the exuberance of gold-medal winning boxer Charlie Flynn; the complete shock of swimmer Ross Murdoch after beating home favourite Michael Jamieson to 200m breaststroke gold.
Success seemed to breed success for the Scots. “For me, watching how well people did at the start of the Games just inspired me to want to be like them,” said Sharp.
For Wales, Geraint Thomas’s road race victory in the pouring rain of the final day capped off a record tally of 36 medals that at one stage had seemed almost an impossibility.
Any hope of reaching their pre-Games target of 27 medals seemed to have disappeared with a calamitous build-up that saw Fred Evans refused accreditation for a past criminal conviction, Gareth Warburton and Rhys Williams suspended for failing drug tests and Becky James, Non Stanford and Helen Jenkins withdrawing through injury.
With gymnast Francesca Jones picking up six medals and Jazz Carlin becoming the first Welshwoman in 40 years to triumph in the pool they not only reached their target, but far exceeded expectations.
So as Glasgow 2014 ends there can only be one conclusion to draw. To borrow Paterson’s words: the home nations “smashed it”.