They have already painted a mural of Duncan Scott in Glasgow, while one of the stands at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre is now named after him. He is also an MBE and OBE for his services to swimming.
That may not be sufficient in paying tribute to the achievements of one of Scotland’s greatest athletes of all time who got the nation’s Commonwealth Games gold rush started in record-breaking style last night.
A statue of the man might now be the order of the day as he further enhances his status as Scotland’s most successful competitor ever in the multi-sports event which his home city stepped in to save.
This was his 14th Commonwealth Games medal and a fourth gold as he defended the 200m individual medley title he won at Birmingham four years ago.
As the 29-year-old stood on the podium and savoured a lusty rendition of Flower of Scotland with a raucous home crowd, Glasgow already had all the vindication it needed of the decision to stage the Games at short notice after Victoria in Australia pulled the plug.
It was a superb performance from Scott, who held off a bold late surge from Lewis Clareburt of New Zealand to touch home first in a new Games record time of 1:56.38. Scott’s training partner, close friend and rival Tom Dean took bronze for England.
Duncan Scott set a new Games record of 1:56:38 to take his Commonwealth medal tally to 14
Scott, in lane two, was second after the first butterfly leg as his Scottish team-mate Evan Jones set the early pace but he went ahead midway through the second leg and never looked back.
It was the dream start to six days of competition in the pool which Team Scotland were hoping for as Scott lived up to the poster boy expectations surrounding him.
With more individual glory to pursue in the 200m butterfly and freestyle next Monday and Wednesday, Scott is firmly on course to be the star turn in the venue where he began his senior competition career back in 2014.
In those Games, the raw teenager had to settle for a silver medal in the 200m freestyle relay. He now has collected 50 medals — 21 of them gold — at major championships in a fabulous career which has also seen him become Scotland’s most decorated Olympian.
‘This is a special one and to get a Games record in doing it is nice,’ said Scott. ‘I just wanted to take it out from the start. I had a really good backstroke split, which was the focus from the swimming side of things.
‘From the emotional standpoint and for the team, it was about trying to get the momentum going. There was a bit of a weight on my shoulders for that, so it was more relief than anything else. Hopefully there are plenty more medals to come for the Scottish team.
Katie Shanahan won silver behind Jenna Forrester of Australia in the 200m backstroke final
‘It doesn’t matter how high or low I feel emotionally, it doesn’t matter if it’s a good performance or a really bad one. Something I’ve always done quite well at major meets is evaluate it all at the end of the week.
‘When you reflect back, maybe I’ve not enjoyed some of the highs as much as I should have. It also means I can still be really good when it comes to day six or day seven of competitions, so this is one I’ll really think about and savour when the meet is over.’
The first gold medal in the pool at these games went to Australia’s Lani Pallister, who finished fifth in Birmingham four years ago, as she comfortably held off Erika Fairweather of New Zealand to win the 400m freestyle final.
After Scott’s triumph, Scotland then came agonisingly close to a second goal from Katie Shanahan.
The 22-year-old, who claimed two bronze medals in Birmingham four years ago and then came fifth in the 2024 Olympic final, led in the final leg of the 200m backstroke final but missed out by just 0.37 seconds as Jenna Forrester of Australia surged through to touch first.
Shanahan’s team-mate, 21-year-old Holly McGill, narrowly missed out on a podium place in the same race as she finished fourth behind bronze medallist Hannah Fredericks of Australia.
Faye Rogers claimed Scotland’s second gold of the evening in the 200m individual relay SM10
There was another silver medal for Scotland in the men’s 100m freestyle S13 as Stephen Clegg, a two-time gold medallist at the 2024 Paralympics, put recent injury woes behind him as he finished behind Nathan Hendricks of South Africa.
‘I’m not usually happy after winning silver but that one was special,’ said Clegg. ‘I had major shoulder surgery and there were times when I didn’t think I’d be here. But this is a brilliant event and it was great to do it in front of a home crowd.’
In the 200m individual medley SM10, Faye Rogers went one better as she claimed Scotland’s second gold medal of the night.
The 23-year-old, who also topped the podium at last year’s world para swimming championships, cruised to victory more than two and a half seconds ahead of Jasmine Greenwood of Australia with Mary Jibb of Canada taking bronze.
Adam Ramsay-Peaty, meanwhile, made a low-key but hugely convincing start to his meet as the English superstar won his 100m breaststroke semi-final in 59.19 seconds.
He will start favourite in the final on Saturday night but there will be no Scottish representation in the race as George Smith and Josh Mitchell both failed to qualify.
