Chris Hoy rejects SNP dream of separate Scottish Olympic team
'Frustrated' at being drawn into politics, Olympian says he's proud to compete alongside English athletes
SIR CHRIS HOY, officially Britain's greatest ever Olympian after winning his sixth gold medal this week, has poured cold water on the Scottish Nationalists' plan to field a separate Scottish team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
SNP leader Alex Salmond was the subject of widespread ridicule before the Games when he called on Scots to cheer on what he termed 'Scolympians' - members of Team GB who are of Scottish origin.
When Hoy, himself a 'Scolympian', was asked by Channel 4 News whether he considered himself a Scottish Olympian or a British Olympian, he said:
"I'm Scottish and I'm British, I think you can be both. They're not mutually exclusive but it's frustrating because as an athlete all you want to do is race and be the best you can and not get dragged into politics.
"All I can say is that I'm very proud to be part of this team, to be part of the British team, to be alongside English and Welsh and guys from the Isle of Man ... It's been great and I'm proud to be part of it."
The Daily Telegraph notes that Hoy, who carried the Union Jack at the head of Team GB at the Olympics opening ceremony, rejected Salmond's plans for a separate team the first time the issue came up, back in 2008 after Hoy won three gold medals in Beijing. The cyclist, who is based in Manchester, said Scotland lacks the necessary training facilities.
The paper observes that since Britain's record gold rush began last week, SNP politicians have begun praising 'Team GB' as a whole.
London mayor Boris Johnson has also used Team GB's success to argue against the case for Scottish independence, which will be put to a referendum in 2014.
Writing in The Spectator, Johnson said: "At the biggest sporting event of our lives, the one that has most passionately engaged the country, we are cheering for a political entity that is meant to be about to break up.
"One of the many happy features of these wonderful Olympics is surely that they have retarded Alex Salmond in his campaign to end the Union." ·
Disqus - noscript
Love the pejorative language and the blatant bias. God, you're going to hate the Commonwealth Games and all those Saltires. Particularly the one wrapped round Chris Hoy as he wins his gold medals for Scotland.
Grow up.
Sir Chris Hoy demonstrates all that is good and sensible in Scotland and that very talented nation. Alex Salmond is utterly consumed by his animosity towards England and all things English - he would lead his nation to penury and destruction simply to prove a point.
Happily there are many intelligent and articulate Scots who do not share Salmond's prejudices and have a far more mature attitude towards the Union.
During a recent trip to Scotland I had the good fortune to speak with a number of Scots - the subject of Salmond and Independence inevitably arose - I can accurately and truthfully state that there are at least some Scots who deem Salmond to be a cynical "megalomaniac" (sic) who is happy to curry the vote of the (perhaps) less politically aware element of the electorate in Scotland's Central Belt who, Salmond calculates, will vote for virtually any policy that smacks of anything anti - English (they are obviously quite unaware, or heedless, of the Barnett formula or the West Lothian question - but, hey ho).
Quite right, Sir Chris - you are a far more eloquent ambassador of your great nation than Salmond could ever hope to be - a credit to Scotland and to Great Britain, far beyond these shores.
A lot of people are confusing the political union of the UK with the social and geographical concept of Britishness.
There is nothing anti-English about Scots desiring self-Government - it is simply the natural state of affairs for every other country in the world.
IMO, it would lead to a vastly improved Britain.
Chris hoy is a expat Scot now there is no anti English movement but rather a want of self government just the same as when Norway when left the Swedish union and now Sweden and Norway r closer friends . This the most pro union rubbish i have ever read that's why the English want a vote so they can keep us even if Scots vote yes and want it rigged like the 1979 referendum
This article misses the fact that the Welsh First Minister who happens to be of the Labour persuasion only wished good luck to the Welsh athletes so why they're having a dig at Salmond is just baffling...
The USSR had a good olympic team too, bet those Estonians are kicking themselves they didn't remain subjugated by Moscow now!
Utter tosh. Your comments distance you from any knowledge of Scotland and the Scottish people. The SNP is an inclusive, egalitarian party, boasting MPs and MSPs from lots of different backgrounds and countries; 6 of whom are actually of English birth and parentage, with one actually being of German parentage but born in Wimbledon, England.
Sometimes, it is better to keep ones mouth shut and appear ignorant than it is to open ones mouth and prove such. Keeping ones mouth shut on such matters is always preferential to opening it, only to spout unfounded, mythical, prevaricated, Unionist tripe.
On a final note - when you criticise our elected First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, you criticise the vast majority of the people of Scotland who voted for the SNP in 2011, delivering an earth shattering win of near biblical proportions - an SNP majority victory in an electoral system designed to prevent any one party (read SNP) getting and overall majority.
I invite you to think again before posting such ill-informed blabberings in the future.