Olympian David Wilkie hopes Commonwealth pool will attract future medallists

ALMOST eight years to the day since plans to restore it to its former glory were unveiled, one of Scotland’s most famous sports centres basked in the limelight.

David Wilkie returned to his old medal-winning stamping ground of the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh yesterday to unveil £37.2 million worth of improvements, predicted to trigger a new generation of champions.

The venue will be playing host to the Commonwealth Games for a record third time in 2014, although it will be Edinburgh’s only official contribution to the event after the capital lost out to Glasgow in 2004.

By then, however, plans to redevelop the ageing facilities were well developed and work on the overhaul got under way in the summer of 2009.

The culmination of the work will be this morning when the pool – which will host the diving events at the Games – finally reopens to the public.

Wilkie turned back the years by taking the plunge himself along with dozens of young swimmers as he paid tribute to “the old lady” of Scottish swimming and her shiny new look, while guests were treated to synchronised diving displays.

Wilkie, who claimed Olympic gold in the 200 metres breaststroke in Montreal in 1976, told The Scotsman: “The Commie means an awful lot to me as I did a lot of my training here when I was still at school.

“I won my first international medal at the 1970 Commonwealth Games, which the pool was actually built for.

“It always had a special atmosphere, but you had something like 2,000 people here when there was a major competition. It’s only right that any capital city has sports facilities like this that are looked upon as among the best in the world. I’d like to see more of them.”

The Royal Commonwealth Pool reopening comes as Scottish swimmers such as Craig Benson, Hannah Miley and Robbie Renwick prepare to go for gold in the London Olympics, with the British squad lined up to train at the “Commie” over the next few months.

And when the Glasgow Games come around in 2014, divers 15-year-old Grace Reid and 14-year-old James Heatly hope to be among Scotland’s brightest medal prospects.

“We are getting a lot better at producing young swimmers nowadays,” said Wilkie.

“The sport was in a pretty bad place in the 1980s and 1990s, but things have really moved on and Britain has some real medal hopes at the Olympics this year. Winning one or two medals would make a huge difference to the sport in this country.”

Grace, a member of Edinburgh Diving Club who reached the finals at the last games in Delhi, said: “Having these kind of world-class facilities right here in the city will make a huge difference to me as I’ve had to go down to Leeds to train virtually every weekend while the pool has been closed here. I’d expect to see a lot more swimmers and divers coming through with something like this on the doorstep of so many people.”

As the pool complex is A-listed by Historic Scotland, the council had to retain many original features, including the main layout of the complex, its windows, flooring and staircases.

However, the capacity of the main 50-metre pool has been increased by 25 per cent, while other improvements include a new diving pool with a moveable floor, which can be adapted for swimming, a new dry dive training facility, and a new teaching pool.

While plans to overhaul or replace Meadowbank Stadium have yet to get up and running, officials at SportScotland believe the revamped pool will at least help to encourage a new generation of swimmers and divers.

Louise Martin, the government body’s chair, said: “I’m convinced facilities like this and the ones we are seeing elsewhere, including the expansion of the pool at Tollcross in Glasgow, will make a real difference in the years to come.”

Work on Glasgow 2014 venues is all on schedule, organisers say

• Organisers of the 2014 Commonwealth Games say Glasgow is well prepared to host the event for the first time, with none of the venues running behind schedule.

• Many locations such as Strathclyde Country Park, Celtic Park, Ibrox and Kelvingrove Park will need only minimal work before hosting the likes of cycling, triathlon, bowls and rugby.

• Two of the major new sports complexes being built for the Games – the National Indoor Sports Arena, which will host badminton, and the cycling veledrome – are both due for completion this summer.

• The third major centre is the Hydro Arena, next to the SECC, which will be used to stage to gymnastics and netball competitions, and is due to be completed in the spring of 2013.

• Work to transform the Hampden Park stadium to make it suitable for athletics competitions, as well as the closing ceremony of the Games, is scheduled to be finished in the spring of 2014.

• Also due to be finished just months before the Games take place is the huge 6,000-capacity athletes village in the east end of Glasgow.