Eilish McColgan is determined to compete at her fourth Olympic Games, 12 years after making her debut in London.
Dundee-born McColgan first represented Team GB in the steeplechase at the 2012 Games before competing in Rio and Tokyo.
Now, the humble 33-year-old - a 2022 Commonwealth Games champion - is desperate to make it four in a row despite early fears she would never compete at the highest level.
"I’m trying to make my fourth Olympic Games with the British team," said McColgan who was speaking to Scottish Athletics at the World School Games event in Dubai.
"I made my debut in London back in 2012 and then competed in Rio four years later and also in the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games (in the summer of 2021).
"I’d love to make my fourth because when I was a youngster I didn’t grow up dreaming of being at an Olympics. I just never imagined being good enough if I am honest."
European 10km road race record holder McColgan - daughter of athletes Liz and Peter McColgan - had early inspiration in the family to compete but will also pay tribute to rival-turned-friend Lynsey Sharp.
McColgan fondly remembers her first encounter with "path-finder" Sharp who also competed at the Olympics before retiring last year - even if the photographic evidence of their meeting leaves the Scottish athlete shuddering with embarrassment.
Four-time European Championships medallist McColgan explained: "Lynsey and I go back a long way and she’s had a great career. In many ways, she was a ‘path-finder’ for top Scottish athletes.
"We first raced together at a Scottish Primary Schools cross country meeting. It’s long time ago, yes.
"The journalists there put a focus on myself and Lysey and they took this picture and it's horrendous.
"Lynsey has this tiny little like bob haircut and I just look petrified. I still have that picture but that was the first time I came across Lynsey and she just battered everybody in that race.
"I don't even know where I finished but she was off - she won it by a long way and I just remember thinking ’WOW’.
READ MORE: 'Do me a favour' - Andy Murray slaughters BBC journalist
"She was a great young athlete and then obviously indoors she set a lot of national records for her age group.
"Lynsey was just someone that always seemed to be at the top of her game and I suppose that was hugely inspiring for me."
McColgan continued: "Looking back to around that time then Lynsey was one of the first Scottish athletes who sort of broke into the GB team and to be honest I'd never really thought about ever making an Olympic Games and stuff.
"I never quite thought I was ever that level of athlete or that good enough to make an Olympics.
"I thought if I could make a Scotland team at the Commonwealths or something that would be a huge achievement itself. The Olympics and Europeans and stuff just felt way outside my capabilities.
"So when Lynsey broke into the GB and NI team I still thought I was more likely to be making a Scotland team of Commonwealths
"She was going to Europeans and we were similar age and stage. And I just thought ‘If she can do that...
"It gave me inspiration and motivation and it helped me make the British team for London 2012."
You can watch the Scottish Athletics interview with Eilish McColgan HERE.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here