AILEEN McGlynn made it two gold medals out of two at the Paralympic Games in what was a spectacular day of success for the British team in Beijing.
One of five British cyclists to top the podium at the Laoshan Velodrome, the Glaswegian and her pilot Ellen Hunter followed up their triumph in Sunday's time trial by doing the double yesterday, collecting gold in the 3km pursuit event for blind and
visually impaired athletes.
"All the hours of training we do, all the hard work is all worth it on these days," said 35-year-old McGlynn, who is registered blind. "You get the reward on days like these. It's like getting the money out of the bank."
Following Chris Hoy's three gold medals at the Olympic Games, McGlynn's double gold at the same venue in Beijing keeps the wheels of success turning for Scottish track cyclists.
Scotland's sports minister, Stewart Maxwell, said: "Another towering performance from Aileen and another shot in the arm for Scottish sport. It's great to see our Scottish athletes grabbing the headlines and performing so well on the world stage."
McGlynn and Hunter won gold and silver in Athens four years ago, and the pair were overjoyed to go one better this time, getting their own back on Australia in the process.
After losing to the Australians in the sprint final four years ago, the British pair left nothing to chance this time, winning by more than two seconds.
McGlynn and Hunter clocked 3mins 39.809secs, with Lindy Hou and Toireasa Gallagher of Australia finishing in 3:41.494. The British duo had qualified fastest in 3:38.085. USA defeated New Zealand for bronze. "We've been training hard for the last four years," said Hunter. "And we needed to go out and show the coaches that we deserved our place in this fantastic team."
After leading the way again yesterday by picking up five golds, Britain's cyclists will be chasing more medals on the final day of action on the track today.
Seven out of ten track cycling gold medals returned to British soil after last month's Olympics and the Union flag continues to fly high above the velodrome after victories in nine out of ten Paralympic events.
Like McGlynn, Darren Kenny and Simon Richardson also won their second cycling gold of the Games yesterday. Mark Bristow and Jody Cundy picked up their first, leaving Rik Waddon and Sarah Storey the only riders to have missed out on gold.
Waddon took silver behind Kenny in the men's CP3 km time-trial, while Storey – the only Briton beaten by someone other than a compatriot – was fifth in the women's LC1-2/CP4 500metres time-trial, but her best event is yet to come.
Overall, Great Britain won nine golds in all sports yesterday to take their total to 16 for the Games and draw level at the top of the medal table with China.
Equestrian riders Lee Pearson and Anne Dunham each won two golds – their individual titles and the team crown – in Hong Kong. Swimmer Sascha Kindred added a ninth victory at the National Aquatics Centre, while Britain also picked up six silvers and four bronze medals to take their total tally to 33, trailing only the hosts, who have 53 medals in all.
Scotland's Sam Ingram won a bronze medal in judo's under-90kg category, saving Britain's medal hopes after under-100kg favourite Ian Rose went out in the first round.
Ingram beat Messaoud Nine of Algeria by an Ippon decision to add Paralympic bronze on his Games debut to his 2007 world silver medal. "It feels good," said Ingram. "This morning I wanted to go for gold, but I couldn't beat the Frenchman. Bronze is still bronze."
The 23-year-old performed strongly throughout the afternoon's matches, despite a rocky start to the day. In a controversial opening match Ingram had an Ippon decision overturned. With just 28 seconds of his first match to go, Ingram appeared to throw Frenchman Olivier de Cugnon de Sevricourt cleanly, a manoeuvre that results in automatic victory. He punched the air to celebrate and 1000 points were duly awarded to the Scot. But after the technical official intervened Ingram's points were removed and the bout resumed with Ingram 20 points behind. The eventual score was 21-11 to the Frenchman.
Ingram qualified for the repechage, where he dispatched Japan's Yusuke Hatsuse by Ippon. He went on to beat Sebastian Junk of Germany on points in the repechage final to qualify for the bronze medal match.
The full article contains 765 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
