Eilish McColgan Wins Gold In Commonwealth Games 36 Years After Her Mother

Eilish McColgan won the gold medal in a 10,000-metre race in the Commonwealth Games, 36 years after her mother Liz McColgan won her first gold medal in the same event. McColgan’s victory marked another medal for Team Scotland.

On August 3, Eilish McColgan won the gold medal in the Women’s 10,000-metre race in the Commonwealth Games. McColgan spoke to BBC and said, “I honestly couldn’t have asked for any more tonight to have my family here… I’ve never sprinted like that in my entire life. Without the crowd, I wouldn’t have finished like that. I just wanted it so bad.” She described her victory as “an absolute dream”.

Mother-Daughter Duo And Gold Winners Eilish McColgan And Liz McColgan

Both Eilish and Liz McColgan are middle-distance runners and long-distance runners. Liz represented Scotland in the 1986 Commonwealth Games that were hosted in Edinburgh, Scotland. She clinched a gold medal in the 10,000-metre race. In the 1990 Commonwealth Games hosted in Auckland, New Zealand, she won the 10,000-metre race again and won the gold medal.

She has served as a coach for her athlete daughter and 32 years after her second gold medal, her daughter Eilish won a gold medal in the same event.

Liz said, “To witness your daughter winning is just amazing and to win it in the same event I won it in.” She added that she always knew her daughter was capable of winning the race. “It was amazing to watch, it was very nerve-racking to watch”.

The 31-year-old Eilish and her partner, the athlete and middle-distance runner Michael Rimmer set up a non-profit “Giving Back to Track” to encourage the continued participation of female athletes in the sport.

McColgan said she created the non-profit with her husband because the high cost of participation and competition could put young athletes off from pursuing sports. She said, "I hope it will make a difference to people and that we can build it up over the next few years." McColgan added that she knew how challenging it was to be an athlete and claimed it was important to be honest about her experiences, even the negative ones.

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