The proud dad of Tayside and Fife’s youngest Commonwealth Games athlete has spoken of his daughter’s “nervous excitement” ahead of her first race on Friday.
18-year-old Emma Russell from Dunfermline is one of 24 swimmers representing Scotland at the Birmingham 2022 games, which kicked off on Thursday.
Emma, a former Woodmill High School pupil, has already tasted success on the international stage.
Commonwealth Games is ‘new experience’
She won gold in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay and 4×200 metre freestyle relay at the European Aquatics Championships in Budapest last year.
As the eyes of the world turn to Birmingham, we spoke to dad Stuart Russell, 50, who will be cheering her on from the sidelines, alongside wife Julia, 48.
Although freestyle sprint swimmer Emma is no stranger to international competitions, Stuart says the Commonwealth Games is a totally new experience for her.
He said: “There’s a lot of nervous excitement.
“She’s not been to a games format event before, where there’s an opening and closing ceremony, and all the hype around that.
“She’s really enjoying it and is really excited to be down there and representing her country.”
Emma, who is among 250 athletes on Team Scotland, discovered her talent for swimming at the age of 11.
Despite having never had a formal lesson before, she was inspired to get in the pool after spying her friend’s impressive wall of swimming medals at a sleepover.
Stuart agreed to take her along to Carnegie Swimming Club, where she was soon identified as a potential star.
Stuart said: “She progressed through the club ranks really quickly — she just had a natural ability.
“She was identified as having a lot of potential.”
It was at this stage the family decided to move clubs to give her a “real opportunity” to succeed.
Emma was enrolled at Heart of Midlothian swimming club in Edinburgh, which trains at the Royal Commonwealth Pool.
‘Mad rush’ between training sessions and school
But it wasn’t easy balancing her early morning training sessions in Edinburgh with her school work.
Stuart, who works in IT for a telephone company, said: “The morning sessions started at 5.30am, so we had to be up at 4am on a Monday morning and a Wednesday morning.
“We would jump in the car with breakfast and her school clothes and so on, fire over to the Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh.
“She would do her two-hour training session. I would go to the gym or sometimes just sleep in the car.
“And then it was a kind of mad rush back to get back to school for starting at 8.40am.
“She used to eat breakfast going back and dry her hair in the car with the fans on full as we drove through traffic and got back over the bridge.
“Doing that for a number of years is a fairly significant commitment.”
The Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown presented another challenge to Emma’s athletic career – the closure of public swimming pools.
Wanting to avoid a gap in Emma’s training, her gran and grandad bought her a 9,000-litre, 12-foot swimming pool for the garden.
The purchase meant that Emma, who now studies business management with sport at Stirling University, was able to maintain her fitness levels throughout the public health crisis.
Stuart said: “She was in that unheated pool as much as she possibly could be, depending on the weather.
“I made her a harness and put a sort of bungee system against the garden fence, just to tether her really, and she was able to swim against the resistance of the fence.”
Emma now trains at Stirling University’s national swimming academy, alongside athletes including Olympic gold medallist Duncan Scott, 25.
Stuart said: “Duncan’s done so much, he’s a very highly-decorated athlete, and to swim with him has been a bit of an eye opener and a bit of a privilege as well.
“She said recently that that’s who her inspiration is and someone she can look up as a sort of role model.”
Tipped to compete in Paris 2024 Olympics
Emma, who is part of the British Swimming’s World Class Programme (WCP), has been tipped to compete in the Olympics herself.
Stuart said: “Obviously, a lot can happen between here and 2024 in Paris.
“There’s a whole lot of things that are in the balance – fitness, health, how the training goes, whether she is in the World Class Programme.
“But she has got a desire to go there and try and qualify for training to be a GB Olympian in Paris. That is her goal.”
Aquatics team for Commonwealth Games announced! 🏴
24 Swimmers & Para-Swimmers and 7 Divers are amongst those heading to Birmingham 💦
Full story 👉 https://t.co/1x27aCEAe2 pic.twitter.com/y5BbhqShDZ
— Scottish Swimming (@ScottishSwim) June 16, 2022
Emma’s preparation for the Commonwealth Games has included swimming six days a week – sometimes twice in one day – as well as regular strength and conditioning sessions.
She will compete in a series of races at the event, including the relay heats on Friday, the 50m freestyle on Saturday and the 100m freestyle on Sunday.
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