02/03/2014 Sport XIV

Good evening and welcome to another edition of Sport XIV. It has been a

busy month, here is what is happening tonight. We go to to to

with two legends, Josh Taylor and Ken Buchanan. I think you did do the

right thing! Ian McCafferty and Iain Stewart remember the incredible 1970

5000 metres final. You have to make it better than yesterday. A tale of

heroism you will never forget. I want to spread the sport as much as

I can. The table tennis crusades... I guess, like most sports, there is

advanced technology. And Jen McIntosh, how she keeps glory in

asides. And we will be paying tribute to our curling heroes from

Sochi, but first Edinburgh boxer Josh Taylor will be carrying the

hopes of a nation into the ring with him this summer. How well-prepared

is he? Well, we had in meet up with another legend, Ken Buchanan, and

the sparks flew. The winner, Josh Taylor!

Buchanan comes forward... He has kept the title!

Josh, what do you think of yourself this year? I am really confident for

the Commonwealth Games. I went to the last ones in Delhi in 2010 and

won a silver medal, I was only 19 and had only been boxing three

years. I lost out to a more experienced Englishman. Through

experience, he beat me, used his head and stuff. I was a bit

disappointed at the time, I was that close to winning gold. But a couple

of days after, I got the silver medal in my pocket, and with three

more years' experience, I am confident and I cannot wait. He will

be hard to beat when the Commonwealth Games decamps to

Glasgow...... There will be 4000 in the arena shouting mining, it will

put hairs on the back of my neck. You remind me of a younger version

of myself. You remind me of a younger version

abroad, does it hamper you in any way? Do you feel that? If anything,

I like being the underdog, the more shouting makes you more determined

to win, more determined to win. It doesn't matter, it is just you and

him in the ring, isn't it? Delhi was never really a place you

would go for a fight, like, did you know what it was going to be like?

When I went there, it was the heat, roasting, it was really dry heat,

and a different culture. In the village, there were monkeys running

about everywhere. They were chasing people about the stadium, doing a

sprinting session before the event, and one came running out of the

tunnel, chasing guys around. What was it like being in Madison Square

Garden at the time when Muhammad Ali was the main name? He has to fight

you for the dressing room? He asked if he could share the dressing room,

I said, where you go, don't be so daft! I looked up at the place, all

the names, and I said, I saw chalk on the table and I drew a line. When

I got to the end, the place was quiet, you could hear a pin drop,

and he says, Kenny, what are you doing? I said, well, this is my

dressing room, he asked if you could share it. I am world champion. He

says, I know, the line, that is your side and that is my side. I said,

Ali, if you step over the line, you are going to get that. I am glad he

laughed! It is the pinnacle of amateur

boxing, the Olympics, the biggest stage. You will have been the first

guy since Dick McTaggart to win a gold medal. Yes, and I was the same

weight as him, that was my goal, to be the first to win a medal since

Dick. It was not to be, but it was still a really proud moment. I never

made the Olympics myself. You did the business in the pro game. I took

a few punches! Show me that hall of fame ring, look at that. If I can

achieve half as much as you... You will do that. Imagine that, Josh

Taylor, champion of the world, imagine that. I will have to come

back and bad you! -- batter you! Two tough guys there. Powerlifters

Micky Yule redefines the word tough. When you see what happened to

him in Afghanistan, he tells his story.

It was just another normal day in Afghanistan or me, I was a senior

NCO on a search team in charge of finding the IEDs, the improvised

explosive devices. We would go out and try and locate them, and them,

find them, blow them up, get rid of them, so I ended up blowing up,

instantaneously losing my left leg and really damaging my right leg. I

was pretty happy that I was going to be all right. I had planned where I

was going to take casualties back, so I knew that I needed to still be

conscious, and you last thing I can remember is the hot air of the

engine and the downdraught of the tune of coming in. They got me on,

and there were surgeons on that Chinook, so I was not overly happy,

but I was pretty happy when I got there!

I used to do able-bodied powerlifting, squat, bench press,

death that. I represented the army in the combined services doing that,

I had done a few competitions. -- deadlifts. Once I got injured and

lost my legs, I didn't see a way of getting back into powerlifting. I

was really enthusiastic when I heard that I could do the bench press and

two Paralympic powerlifting. Sport Scotland ran a talent programme back

in 2011, and Mickey was one of the ones that volunteered for that, and

ever since then he's been part of the programme. He is an ideal

athlete to work with. He is thinking about what he needs to do all the

time, and he is pushing us, pushing me as a coach to think about it and

do better. When you go through the stuff that

myself and some of the other lads have been through, I think you've

got to be optimistic. You can't be looking back on stuff. You've got to

look at the looking back on stuff. You've got to

a lot of guys that had worse injuries than me, and I know that

they are still cracking on with their life, and they are still

making the best of every day. So there's no reason for me to start

getting down on myself and worrying about stuff. Some of the lads didn't

come back. I mean, I got injured, I just need to get on with my life the

best I can, and at the moment it's doing my Paralympic powerlifting.

It's just give you something else to go for. Every day worrying about

your next operation or worrying about how you're going to walk on

your prosthetics that day, or are your prosthetics going to really

hurt you that day? Not only that, I have to get my training done, and

hit all my targets that has been said by my coaches, doing my

build-up for the competition, so you end up thinking more about that, and

before you realise, you're walking has got better and you are better on

your prosthetics, and you're not paying attention to the pain that

you might be going through whilst you are doing that. It sounds a bit

of a cliche, but it is still very much a team sport. I have got my

coach Neil here, I have got coaches that I work with down in Leeds,

videos, nutritionists, dieticians who are guiding me. -- physios. Be

your best on that day and do not leave it to chance. And don't fail,

because you deserve to be there. It is an inspiration for everyone

involved, to be talented, to excel at something, it shows real warrior

spirit. I am confident that I can achieve everything I plan to be in

Glasgow. I am going there to try and get a medal, and I need to keep on

training had. It would be the end of such a bad period of my life,

finishing on a high. It would be closing that door on that day, on

the 2nd of August, it will mean everything. Now it is time for a bit

of nostalgia. For those of you old enough to remember, Scotland hosted

its first ever Commonwealth Games 44 years ago, and the last individual

track event of the meet, the men's 5000 metres, went down in history as

one of the greatest events ever seen on home soil.

He will either destroy himself or win...

300 metres left! But look at McCafferty! And on the track now,

the athletes assembling. McCafferty, the eighth fastest man of all time.

Iain Stewart, many people's favourite for this race. I did not

think you would be favourites to win it, obviously. You did not think I

would be favourite, but you were still a danger to myself, Keino,

Clarke, Dick Taylor. I was still only 21, and the three others were a

star-studded field of distance runners. I was the ninth fastest guy

in the race going into it, which is ridiculous, really. I had run

against him in Dublin, he beat the ridiculous, really. I had run

world record. I thought he would be the danger in Edinburgh. I didn't

really trust anybody on the Scottish coaching staff. My parents are from

Musselburgh just down the road, but I was the first of our family to be

born outside of Scotland. I definitely didn't trust any of the

management team. 5000 metres, 12 and a half laps of the track. I think

the thing was, with the race itself, it was a proper 5000 metres race.

The time for the first 400, 70.7. Very slow. If the race had been

going the way it should have been going for the first couple of laps

we would have had a world record, I'm sure of it. I remember saying to

you we would have been second. I turned around and looked at the

scoreboard. I could not believe it was going that fast because it did

not feel that fast. That's right. When you won at Iceland I was like,

that's a gift from the gods. You have got to be totally confident. I

thought I was doing the right thing. You did do the right thing because

the way we left it before final was really confident.

when lose or draw, that is it. I think the last 200, you were not

hanging about. I was round as fast as I could going on the street. I

was bursting. I still regret that last 100 metres because, looking

back, I sometimes think that I gave up a bit. Maybe with about 20 yards

to go. Yes, it was quite a noise, wasn't it? It was quite emotional.

The crowd and obviously my wife, she was looking for me. She had come

down to the side of the track and I could not see her. A lot of people

still remember that race, a huge number, to me in Edinburgh and ask.

I get that as well. Loads and loads of people remember it so it

definitely made quite an impact, didn't it? With the couple of

friends I went to the restaurant and there were loads of people coming up

assuming I would have a Scottish accent and they were getting really

offended that I hadn't. I sort of apologised. I bet our track record

against each other is apologised. I bet our track record

It is great to see you again. Really good to see you again. Table tennis

is the biggest participation sport in the world. 40 million people play

either recreationally or competitively. It is not the same

here in Scotland where it is a minority sport. Our number two

ranked player, Craig Harrison, is the man on a mission to change that.

Pete Howison is teaching PE at this school in Edinburgh. His first love

is table tennis. But not played like that. He set up an after-school

table tennis club in order to give students an introduction to the

game. I started it up last year when I started that this school. It is a

massive thing for me, I do not think enough people know about table

tennis. I want to spread the sport as much as I can. I have between ten

and 20 youngsters, every Thursday for an hour. I now have five or six

who are taking it up more seriously and are training three times a week

at the club I started when I was nine. The emphasis is on them

enjoying it and having fun. If there was anyone had the extra motivation

to go out and improve, there are a few already that have shown that,

that would be great. If we can get them up to an elite level or how

high they can that would be a very satisfying and proud moment for me.

After a day of teaching it is time for three hours of demonstration. My

old man built a table in the attic when I was seven. I think my dad

realised I could be good a lot earlier than I did. It was him

encouraged me to join a club and pushed me to do that. This year has

started well for Craig, he has already taken home silverware. I won

at the West of Scotland from p which is part of the great British Grand

Prix circuit, there are 12 each year. I won my maiden title in

Glasgow a few big day for me. I have never beaten Gavin, the number one,

he is a full-time athlete. He is a real professional athlete as well

and for me to be able to get a result like that is really

satisfying. It shows that all the hard work I have been doing in here

and in the gym and work my sports psychologist has been paying off. I

have played him on teen times since I was 14 and came close a couple of

times but never managed to beat him. It is nice to get that monkey off of

my back. It is a huge weight off my shoulders. So, an impressive start

to 2014 but nothing is being taken for granted ahead of the 2014

Commonwealth Games. I am focusing at the moment, but not thinking too far

ahead. If we do get there then we want to do everything in our power

to make sure we have a good performance. If we get to the top

eight in the quarterfinals performance. If we get to the top

are number one and number two. They have vast experience between us.

That will hopefully carry over to Glasgow. The other big experience

that is important is the Commonwealth Championships which

were in Scotstoun in Glasgow back in 2009. We have had a little taste of

what the crowd might be like and what they call is like and stuff

like that. Hopefully it will prove to be valuable and we will use it to

our advantage. Here's a round-up of what else has been happening this

month. These Scottish Badminton Championships saw doubles success.

There was doubles success for one girl when she took the title 's

success in the mixed doubles. In squash this paling missed out on

gold at the British doubles open but for Klein, who is based in America,

it was a useful exercise. It is good to come back and take some

competitions. We try to fit in training whenever we are back for

two Normans. It is good to have an event like this and have some

countries, and play with us. It is good. The preliminary rounds of the

Scottish boxing Championships saw victories for Lewis Benson and Conor

Law. Benson has recently moved up a weight clash which means a clash

between these two friends is a possibility. We travelled together a

broad and because he was at a different weight division

broad and because he was at a buying. Now he has stepped up. Not

broad and because he was at a that it bothers me, it would be a

good fight, it makes Championships better. Knew just takes it on the

line! Lord your shaved eight seconds off of her personal best in

Birmingham, she is off to the world indoors. I just went for it and

managed to hold everybody off. We all know what a big year this is

going to be 14 Scotland, but what about the team behind the team?

Everyone at the Institute of sport in Stirling is doing everything they

can to make sure the athletes are supported every step of the way. At

long, long last, Katherine Grainger is the Olympic champion. The waiting

is over. He is keeping on playing those shots. Behind our great

athletes are great coaches, behind them is the sport Scotland Institute

of sport. Performance sport is not cheap. 38 million have gone into

sport across the Glasgow Commonwealth cycle. It is an

expensive business but we have investment into performance sport.

We invest and provide expert advice to the governing bodies which can

take the form of business expertise, physiotherapy, medicine, sports

science, innovation. This shooter is someone who has benefited from the

support. People are essentially standing still, you look around and

it is not really challenging but it is an endurance sport which a lot of

people do not see. You are holding those positions for hours at a time.

It is pretty brutal sometime. That is why the videos are important,

helping you build strength so you do not permanently injure yourself.

Being able to train for longer has an impact on how I shoot and my

performance. We have to build up a lot of core stability. The lackeys

and yoga are really good for physical awareness, improving my

balance and things like that. -- Pilates. You have may seen some of

the crazy positions that the shooters get into. It is a very

asymmetrical sport so it is important we give her strategies to

recover and balance out those asymmetries. Typically tightness

around the neck and shoulders, lower back and hips. She has a very

specific routine she does before she shoots and then afterwards. I work

with a nutritionist to help with my training. When you compare what a

rugby player would need to eat and drink compared to a gymnast for

example, we try to make sure she is eating and drinking regularly

throughout the day, not going to long without having something to eat

and the snacks she is having least energy slowly so

levels are not shooting up and down. That will help maintain her

concentration and accuracy. So what is the desired return on a ?30

million investment? The team target will be set once the team is known.

We have worked in partnership with Commonwealth Games Scotland and

collectively we are looking at a best ever games performance for

Scotland which would be more than 33 medals. Our partners are also

looking forward to it. There has been a real collective spirit with

everybody working together to make sure the athletes are best placed to

deliver the performances they are capable of. That is all we have time

for as usual. Let's leave you with the exploits of James Murdoch and

Muirhead who made us so proud on the ice in Sochi.