"VAN" (Sports Desk - 18.07.2026) :: Swimming legend Duncan Scott is relishing the prospect of Tartan Army-style partisan crowds at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The multiple Olympic gold medallist is one of the faces of Glasgow 2026 and has been given a double honour in the city of his birth.
At the Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Stand B will be renamed The Scott Stand.
Scott says it was at Tollcross that he “fell in love with competitive swimming” as a teenager at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
As excitement for the biggest sporting event in the UK this year grows, Scott is also featured in one of seven murals on railway arches along Glasgow’s Clydeside Expressway, created by Dair McCormick and David Breen at Residents Studio.
The Swimming and Para Swimming action is from Friday 24 July to Wednesday 29 July 2026. Only a handful of tickets are remaining, with 42 swimming and 14 Para Swimming medals to be won.
The Commonwealth Games is the highlight of the season for Scott as he builds up to the LA Olympics in 2028.
Scott made history after winning four medals in Tokyo 2020 - more than any other British athlete at a single Olympic Games, becoming Great Britain's most decorated swimmer in Olympic history.
With his gold and silver medal in Paris 2024 his total rose to eight, making him Scotland's most-decorated Olympian, and tied with Bradley Wiggins as second most decorated Olympian in British history.
Scott said: “It is very exciting. Not often do you get a home Commonwealth Games, even less often do you get two. I am very spoiled and that buzz is really starting throughout the country. Once the baton was in Scotland, visiting islands, up and down the countryside, it created a buzz that the Games brings.
Is he the face of the games? He added: “I would never describe myself in that way. Team Scotland is very good across the board, Athletic, Swimming and plenty other sports.
“It is well known that the Tartan Army travels well. It was pretty cool seeing the games in the World Cup, seeing how well the Scotland fans were perceived. Anytime Glasgow hosts a competition, sport or music, the city produces a great atmosphere. In the venues it now feels like any other major competition, and the crowds will be phenomenal.
Reacting to having a stand and a mural in his name, Scott said: “They have done an amazing mural. What an honour. The mural is really cool and I will go to see it. It is a huge honour and I heard my mural is close to Sir Chris Hoy and Eilish McColgan - two athletes I have looked up to. I have idolised Chris for a long time for the way he conducts himself day to day and what he has achieved. Seeing a Scot compete like that on the world stage was inspirational. Wow, a stand too! I need to go and sit in it.
“One of my fondest memories in 2014 in Glasgow, walking out as a 17 year old, and the number of Scottish Saltires, being part of a relay… that is when I fell in love with competitive swimming.”
Scott is expecting “stacked” elite fields. He added: “This year we have the Commonwealth Games and European Championships. The Women’s and Men’s freestyle will be stacked. Everyone will be drawn to the Men’s 200 Freestyle. It’s on the last day and has plenty of hype around it. Our Team GB Olympics 4x200m Freestyle team is broken up. We now have a Northern Irishman, Welshman, Scotsman, plus two for England, the Aussies. The depth is great and good fun to be part of. The Aussies really value this and are here. It is a quick pool, there have been world records here. Chad Le Clos going for the most medals tally.”
Glasgow 2026 is a milestone on the way to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. “I work in four year cycles,” Scott said. “I will try to be at my best at the Olympics. It would be pretty cool to be in the team for LA.
“On the medal winning, it is weird being on a list with names like Sir Jason Kenny, Sir Chris Hoy, Sir Steve Redgrave. It is a dream to go there and compete, I have one back to back in the 200m IM and our 4x200m is strong. There are a few targets, but, at 29, I also indeed want to take it a year at a time.”
Glasgow 2026 is the largest sporting event in the UK this year, with 3,000 athletes from 74 nations and territories set to compete in 10 sports and six Para sports, in four iconic venues across the city.
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