Corrie Scott rising to the bait of being the best

Corrie Scott is looking forward to her third Games, where she hopes to emulate or better her previous success. Photograph: Craig Watson

“Right now, at training, it’s just me and 11 boys so every day I’m fighting to show that we are just as good as them, I can do anything they can do. So I’m in that environment all the time, but I think all the boys respect us so much and know we can do anything they can do. I don’t think there’s more pressure. Whether we’re male or female, we’re all going out to Gold Coast to do our best and that’s it. It’s exciting.”

As she trains to reach the level where she can replicate or even better the highs of Glasgow 2014, when she won bronze in the 50m breaststroke, and again claim a place on the podium, Scott is less bothered by gender and more interested in simply being pushed by other elite swimmers who will head to Australia with her this spring.

“In training, the thing that the boys love to do is constantly take the piss out of me. And I rise to it every time. But I enjoy it – it’s a fun training environment and I know that they respect me. In the Commonwealth Games team, the Edinburgh boys Calum [Tait], Dan [Wallace] and Jack [Thorpe] are the worst – they all prod at me and I go mental at them. That helps and when the pressure is on, it’s about trying to have as much fun as possible.

“This will be my third Commonwealth Games and I’m probably not going to be there in four years’ time,” said the 24-year-old. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I do know that I’m probably getting to my last or second last Games and I know how much I’ve loved the last eight years so I just want to enjoy all of this.”

One of the more experienced swimmers in the squad, she wants to help those who are new to this level of competition, and also inspire the next generation watching at home.

“The sport has given me so much and I want to give something back so I always try to help the young ones as much as I can. I watched Hannah [Miley] and Caitlin [McClatchey] in Melbourne and they were my idols and then I started swimming with them and I was like ‘wow’. I’ve learned so much from them and so hopefully I’m passing that onto the young ones now.”

With so much to occupy her mind, the Edinburgh University student, who is doing a Masters in Chemistry, has decided to put the fifth and final year of those studies on hold so she can concentrate completely on making the most of her opportunities in Australia.

“I didn’t want to do anything half-arsed, I’m the type of person who wants to do everything 100 percent and so I wanted to make sure that I was ready for the Games.

“I just love racing – I get a real kick out of racing fast and competing with some of the best in the world. The two Games so far have been different – Delhi was a bit crazy, quite a lot of the swimmers, including me, were ill but I was nowhere near the worst. That was my first Games and I was only 17 so it was a really big deal and so even though it wasn’t the best Games experience with being ill, I still took so much out of it in terms of experience. And then Glasgow, with it being a home Games – it was unbelievable. The home crowd were amazing, my family were all there and then getting a medal put the cherry on top of the cake. Gold Coast is going to completely different again so I’m looking forward to it.”