Five Scottish medal hopes at the London 2012 Olympics

By ASSA SAMAKE
Published on 05/06/2012 20:19

With London 2012 just around the corner we look at the Scots who are most likely to win a medal for Team GB.

Katherine Grainger

The Glasgow-born rower is the first female British athlete to gain medals in three consecutive Olympic Games, with three silver medals at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympic Games. She has also won her sixth gold medal last summer at the World Rowing Championships in Slovenia. The most successful female rower in the country may well touch gold this summer in London, but her main opponents include the German team with two-time Olympic gold medallist Manuela Lutze.

Chris Hoy

The 36 year-old track cyclist holds four Olympic gold medals and has just won the eleventh world champion title of his career in Melbourne, Australia. Scotland’s most successful Olympian has a triple challenge this year: keeping the three gold medals he won in Beijing four years ago in team sprint, solo sprint and keirin. The French will be his most serious competitors, with such talented athletes as Mickael Bourgain and Kévin Sireau.

Andy Murray

The fourth best tennis player in the world and the unchallenged number one in the UK with 22 solo titles, including 6 Masters Series, is in with a chance of medal glory at London 2012.

A strong performance in the French Open preceded by a a semi-final Auustralian Open appearance means Murray is a definite contender.

Hannah Miley

Garioch’s Hannah Miley won the gold medal in Barcelona’s Mare Nostrum swimming competition last Sunday. The 23 year- old athlete has also claimed the gold medal for medley swimming at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and is the current European champion in the same category. Australia is the reigning medley swimming Olympic champion, followed by the United States who won the silver medal in 2008.

David Florence

Aberdeen-born David Florence won the gold medal at the Augsburg’s European Canoe Slalom Championship in May, and has claimed a total of nine medals in his career. At the 2008 Olympics, he claimed a silver medal in canoe slalom. The 29 year old athlete has good chances of winning a medal this time, but he has to watch out for Slovakian canoeist Michal Martikán, who won the gold medal at the Beijing Olynpics.

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