IT’S amazing to hear how friendship created through sport endures throughout the years. A case in point is Katherine Grainger’s friendship with Gillian Lindsay which goes back many, many years prior to the Sydney Olympics in 2000. There they were part of Team GB who won silver in the quadruple sculls, behind Germany.
Katherine was our guest of honour at the recent Scottish Women in Sport Awards and it was apparent from the ease between them which showed in their banter that this friendship was something special and long-lasting, still rowing together when time allows.
Gillian won the TruWealth Pioneer in Sport category for her achievements, but also a nod to the recent work that she does in setting up rowing programmes in schools.
Sporting history is a fascinating subject, but more so if you are interested specifically in the history of women in sport, as there is still so much to uncover. Dr Fiona Skillen recently unearthed an amazing story of Rutherglen Ladies, active in the 1900s, which established that the singer Eddi Reader had a strong affinity with this group as her grandmother Sadie Smith was part of that team.
This exhibition is on show at the Football Museum in Hampden Park, and it plots the history of women in football when, despite huge crowds in the early days, it was banned in December 1921, 100 years ago, and wasn’t lifted till the early 70s.
Recognition of sporting achievements should be captured for each generation to look back and appreciate the sacrifices made to enable them to participate – that is basically why we hold our annual awards. Stories told of overcoming adversity, whether playing, officiating or volunteering, are part and parcel of the awards – as well as celebrating those women who achieve at the highest level.
Our GRM sportswomen of the year, swimmer Kathleen Dawson, definitely fits into the above, as she suffered a horrendous knee injury in 2018 and fought back to become the first Scottish woman in more than 100 years to win gold medal in swimming at the Tokyo Olympics.
Play like a Lassie also attended the awards – a community project aiming to increase representation and knowledge of Scottish sportswomen in the past through Wikipedia, something that is so obviously needed.
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