THERE were days when it appeared they'd got God Save The Queen stuck on repeat at Beijing's Laoshan velodrome – Aileen McGlynn will be hoping for more of the same today.
The partially sighted Glaswegian cyclist heads a 17-strong Scottish contingent in Great Britain's Paralympics team.
Although they have scrubbed the kilometre time trial from the Olympic programme McGlynn and pilot Ellen Hunter are hot favourites
to defend the gold they won in Athens. They added the world title and record at the last World Championships and will also be looking to upgrade the tandem sprint silver they claimed four years ago in the individual pursuit.
"It's great that we did so well at the Olympics, but the Paralympic team won 14 golds at last year's World Champs, so we like to think that we set the standard that they followed," said McGlynn.
"We've put the bar high and we know that we will be the team that everyone wants to beat – because of what both the Olympic and Paralympic team have achieved in recent years."
Despite just finishing her Highers, 18-year-old Libby Clegg represents Scotland's best chance of success at the Bird's Nest. The visually impaired sprinter took 100m silver at the last World Championships but was disqualified after video evidence showed her guide runner had crossed the line fractionally before her.
She learned from her mistake to take silver in the 200m but will face tough opposition from double world champion Oxana Boturchuk. "It's my first Paralympics and it's hard to know what to expect," said Clegg.
"I'm not predicting anything spectacular and my first target is just to lower my personal best."
Scottish FA officials may continue to protest at any involvement with a proposed British Olympic team, but one of their coaches will captain Britain's cerebral palsy seven-a-side football team here.
Jonathon Paterson – whose older brother Nicki played for Motherwell – will lead a team that includes fellow Scots Graeme Paterson, Mark Robertson and Kieran Martin when Britain open their campaign against reigning champions Ukraine tomorrow.
British selectors have opted for a youth first policy at these Games, and the youngest member of the team, swimmer Eleanor Simmonds, doesn't turn 14 until later this year.
But in the indefatigable Jim Anderson – still going strong at his fifth Games aged 45 – they have their star. With a collection of 12 Paralympic swimming medals – including four golds in Athens – few would bet against the former British disco dancing champion getting more gongs to decorate his Broxburn home. But the true winner of these Games will be this country's largely unseen disabled population of 80 million people.
Deep seated prejudices have long made their lives more difficult, and
if 11 days of Paralympic sport changes perceptions, then this event could have longer lasting significance to a huge number of Chinese than the Olympics that preceded it.
Lloyds TSB, proud first partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and supporter of ParalympicsGB on their journey to 2012. Visit LloydsTSB.com/London2012
The full article contains 517 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
