Elite swimmer aims to dive into politics

CAITLIN McClatchey, one of Scotland's most successful athletes, has aspirations to enter politics once her sporting career is over.

In an interview in today's Scotland on Sunday, the swimmer said she wanted a "big target" once she stopped competing and that it would be natural to combine her love of sport and a long-standing interest in politics.

"I'd like to be involved with sport, with a political stance on it," she said. "I've always wanted to be a minister for sport, make a difference, use my own experiences. I love sport and I'm really interested in politics and those two things go together so I'd like to do something like that.

"I know it's hard work but I'm quite an ambitious person, so after swimming I think I'll need a big goal, so something like that would be great. I think it's really difficult looking from an outsider's perspective on things you would like to change, because when you get in the role it's probably not that easy to get money, and where does the money go?"

She is currently in her last year at Loughborough University where she is studying politics.

McClatchey, 25, won gold in the 200m and 400m freestyle events during the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006.

She was the only Briton to compete in the final of the 200m freestyle in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and last year won bronze at the World Championships in the 4x200m freestyle relay.

Both her mother and father swam for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games during the 1970s, while her uncle Alan McClatchey was an Olympic bronze medallist in 1976.

McClatchey said that she would like to serve at the Scottish Parliament and work on developing sports at a youth level.

She said: "I think it would be fantastic to encourage the grass roots in Scotland. That is what I would love to do, to encourage all young people to stay in sport, not just to go and win medals but for their own well-being. I'm passionate about having a healthy lifestyle. That is what I would like to promote."

When asked whether she had any particular political party she had in mind, she said: "Definitely not blue."