Monday, March 20, 2006

David Carry and Euan Dale yesterday pulled off a remarkable feat for Scotland — claiming both first and second place in the 400m Individual Medley swimming race in Melbourne.

For Carry, who swam a 4:15.98, the gold was his second of the games and Scotland’s forth gold medal in swimming until now. He becomes the first Scottish person to win two golds at the games in thirty-two years — David Wilkie being the last Scot to do so in 1974.

The games have presented several surprises thus far — most notably Australia’s failure to win more than one gold medal in the men’s events up to this point. Matthew John Cowdrey won the sole gold medal for Australia in the 50m freestyle on Saturday. By contrast, the Australian women have had an excellent start so far, with a medal haul of 21 out of a possible 37.

South Africa once again demonstrated its strength in men’s freestyle swimming by winning the 4 x 100m freestyle relay in 3:14.97, beating the Australian by slightly over half a second. Canada claimed third place.