Grainger is spark for next generation

THREE-TIME Olympic silver medallist Katherine Grainger helped inspire the next generation of domestic sporting talent as the London 2012 torch arrived in Scotland yesterday.

Rower Grainger – who had her inevitable London participation rubber-stamped this week – took a break from training to carry the flame in Glasgow.

Grainger was roared on by thousands of schoolchildren at Toryglen Football Centre as she took her turn with the flame.

The youngsters, from schools across the city, enjoyed an afternoon of Olympic and Paralympic sport taster sessions as part of a showcase Bank of Scotland National School Sport Week event.

Grainger insisted the most

part of the day was the opportunity to inspire a generation of future stars.

“It meant so much to hold the torch, it really did,” said the 36-year-old. “It was a very special moment as the Olympics has obviously been a massive part of my life for the last 15 years.

“Today showed that it is not just Olympians who get excited by the torch. I think for people at an impressionable age to be this close to the flame is amazing for them.

It’s a moment they will remember for rest of their life.”

Bank of Scotland National School Sport Week takes place from 11-15 June 2012 and is Scotland’s biggest school sport event with over 1,800 schools and half a million pupils taking part, staging their own Games. Find out more at www.schoolsportweekscotland.org