Sport
Burns Night: Scotland’s greatest sporting moments
Burns Night is a widely celebrated day in Scotland and is considered to be its ‘other national day’. The event has taken place every January 25th since 1801 to celebrate the life of Robert Burns.
And so, in honour of this special day, we’ve looked back at Scotland’s seven greatest sporting moments, travelling through eras from their recent Euros qualification to Celtic’s famous European Cup win.
7) Allan Wells becomes 100m Olympic champion
Before participating in the 1980 Olympics itself, there was a lot of pressure on Scotland’s Allan Wells to perform. He was suffering from chronic back pain around two-and-a-half weeks before the Games began, while he was also under pressure to boycott the event in Moscow because the Americans had done so for political reasons. However, all of this did not deter him.
The 100m race began, and 10.25 seconds later, it was over. Wells and Cuba’s Silvio Leonard finished very close together, with both men recording the same time of 10.25 seconds. After examining the photo-finish print, however, Wells was declared the winner. Despite all the problems before the race actually began, he overcome these obstacles to become the oldest Olympic 100m champion at 28 years of age.
6) Scotland qualify for 2020 Euros
After 22 years of wishing and waiting, Scotland bettered Serbia in a tense penalty shootout in the final game of the qualification round, propelling them to their first major football tournament since 1998.
Despite not making it to past the group stage, the Scottish squad can hold their heads high after putting their country back on the football world map, and even managing to draw with old rivals England at Wembley.
5) Sandy Lyle becomes first Scottish winner of the Open in over 50 years
Scotland is the birthplace of golf, and after an over 50-year drought since Tommy Armour’s 1931 Open victory, Sandy Lyle reignited a whole continents love for golf with his 1988 Masters win.
Lyle’s career throughout the 80’s, which culminated in this victory, is credited with sparking confidence in European golf – with the evidence being European dominance at the Ryder Cup since then. Undoubtedly Lyle is a Scottish hero and he no doubt inspired many more players across the continent to pick up their clubs.
4) Chris Hoy secures record sixth Olympic gold medal
Chris Hoy headed into the 2012 Olympics as a Scottish sporting legend with an impressive four Olympic gold medals to his name. By the end of that summer’s Games, Hoy had claimed two more to become the most successful British Olympian ever.
Hoy, an ambassador for the 2012 Olympics, first claimed his fifth gold medal in the team sprint with Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes, setting a new world record in the process, before then following that up by winning gold in the Keirin to overtake Sir Steve Redgrave and become the most successful British Olympian ever.
A true legend of the sport and one of Scotland’s best.
3) Scotland claim the Grand Slam
The 1990 edition was the 61st series of the Five Nations Championship and winning it meant it would be Scotland’s 14th overall title.
After wins against Ireland, France, and Wales, it was onto the final match against England at Murrayfield to decide not only the victors of the Calcutta Cup but also the Five Nations Championship itself as well as the Triple Crown and the Grand Slam. Scotland would win 13-7 over their old rivals and claim their third Grand Slam and a second in six years.
2) Andy Murray wins first Wimbledon title
Andy Murray had made his major breakthrough in world tennis by defeating Novak Djokovic in the 2012 US Open final. On 7th July 2013, he accomplished a similar feat, triumphing over Djokovic in another final, only this time he made history.
Murray had won the men’s singles tennis title at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships and ended up being the first British man to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title since Fred Perry in 1936 – ending a 77-year drought. It was Murray’s first Wimbledon win and his second Grand Slam triumph.
1) Celtic lift the European Cup
The 1967 European Cup final took place in Lisbon between Inter Milan and Celtic. Inter scored first thanks to a penalty from Sandro Mazzola. Their joy was short lived though as Celtic equalised through Tommy Gemmell in the 63rd minute, before Stevie Chalmers put the Scottish club in the lead after 84 minutes.
A few minutes later and Celtic had won the European Cup – enabling them to become the first ever British team, and first team from northern Europe, to lift the trophy. All of Celtic’s players were born within a 30-mile radius of Glasgow, making the achievement even more special.
