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Cathy Freeman might be able to explain to Hannah Miley how it feels. Ian Thorpe definitely could. It’s that feeling of not only carries your own hopes and dreams into a major competition, but the weight of expectation of an entire nation.
For Freeman and Thorpe, it came on sports’ largest stage at the Sydney Olympics, and there probably could not be a greater pressure. But when Miley lines up on day one of competition, July 24, she will be entrusted with giving the home nation a perfect, golden start to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Like Thorpe and Freeman, and any other athlete ‘expected’ to win gold in a home Games, Miley would undoubtedly tell anyone willing to listen she is so fortunate to have a nation behind her, and a home crowd cheering for her. In fact she has said as much regularly, recently saying it’s “a huge positive” and explaining her plans to “enjoy and embrace” the pressure.
But we all know the only thing every Scottish person wants on that opening night of their Games … a home grown gold medal at Tollcross International Swimming Centre, and if it doesn’t arrive there will be mass disappointment.
Miley will contest a handful of events in Glasgow, that first being the 400m individual medley. And, due to its timing and her favouritism in the race, it will be the first Games event which will unite the country and have more than five million Scots – and possibly a few more Brits – cheering for the 24-year-old.
But Hannah isn’t a rookie. She’s been through big events, including the London Olympics. And she’s actually the defending Commonwealth Games champion in the medley. She also plans to call on a little bit of Scottish history.
“The noise a home crowd makes is incredible. You can feel it reverberate through you and it makes you stand a little bit taller on the blocks. You feel so proud that you’ve got a job to do not only for yourself but for your country, we’ll definitely channel Braveheart when we’re up on the blocks,” she said in a recent interview.
It’s hardly surprising she produced such a line, Miley is refreshingly one of the rare athletes who displays her personality, is candid with her responses and whose sentences are not cliché riddled. Good luck Braveheart.
What am I competing in?
The big one comes on day one in the 400m individual medley. After that, the 200m breaststroke on day three, the 200m individual medley on day four, and, all going well, the final of the 800m freestyle on day five. But, the golden chance arrives on the first night of competition
Who’s my competition?
The biggest threat to Miley in her pet event the 400m individual medley, is an enemy within, her Great Britain teammate, Aimee Willmott, who swims for England at the Games. While living in the shadow of Miley in recent years, 21-year-old Willmott is closing quickly, and this year is less than half a second behind the Scot. Australia’s best chance in the race is Queenslander Keryn McMaster.
Form heading into the Games
Oh she’s in form. Only last month Miley showed she was nearing her peak by posting her season’s best of 4min.33.25s at the Mare Nostrum meet in Barcelona.
Commonwealth Games history
This will be Miley’s third Commonwealth Games. As a 16 year old back in 2006, six weeks after being in hospital with pneumonia, she narrowly missed a medal in Stephanie Rice’s 400m individual medley in Melbourne, then four years on, with Rice an absentee, Miley made the event her own. She also competed in the 200m breaststroke, 200m medley and a pair of relays in Delhi, without winning another medal. In Delhi she knocked herself out before her race. “The shower was built on a slant and I couldn’t really have a shower, so I decided to get the shower head and hold it over the bath and wash my hair that way. But I went to flick my hair back, I smashed my head on the side of the bath and knocked myself out.”
Why do I make ‘must watch’ status?
Each Games, be it Olympic or Commonwealth, have a hometown hero. We had Thorpe and Freeman in Sydney, we had Lisa Curry in 1982 in Brisbane, and Libby Lenton and Kerryn McCann in 2006 in Melbourne. In Glasgow this year, they will have Hannah Miley when she wins gold on night one. The excitement of the locals will be felt through your television screen.
Fast facts
– Born in Swindon, lives in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire
– Attended Robert Gordon University on sport scholarship where she has studied for a Sport Science degree.
– 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medal winner in 400m individual medley, 2010 European Championship gold medal winner in 400m individual medley, 2012 World Shortcourse Championship gold medal winner in 400m individual medley, silver at 2011 World Championships in the 400m individual medley. Represented Great Britain at 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics.
– Has been coached from the start by her father Patrick, a former soldier who works as a helicopter pilot for a North Sea oil company. He taught her to swim in a hotel pool when she was 3.
– On her father: “I would not be swimming if it were not for him and I would simply not be as good a swimmer if he was not my coach.”
– A regular on Twitter, Miley has 26,750 followers. @HannahMiley89
– Favourite quote: “If you do what you’ve always done you’ll get what you’ve always got, so dare to do something.”
– Favourite food: Spaghetti Carbonara,
– Favourite movies: Notting Hill and Up.
– Favourite TV shows: House, Lie To Me, The Simpsons, Scrubs, Don’t Tell The Bride and An Idiot Abroad.
– She says: “I’m not really a land person. I trip over on a flat floor. I’m like a penguin when I walk – I am much better suited to water.”
This article was first published on the Tenplay website here.