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Q&A with Lee McConnell

Lee McConnell is the most medalled Scottish athlete in history. She’s a double Olympian and has competed for Great Britain at every major Championships since 2001. We caught up with Lee during an online schools chat to promote National School Sport Week in Scotland, and many of the questions were asked by pupils of the 45 schools that took part.

Q&A with Lee McConnell

Q. What inspired you to be an athlete?

I tried a lot of sport when I was younger, figure skating was actually my sport, but watching the British athletes at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games inspired me to join a local athletics club at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow and things went from there.

Q: How many hours do you train a day?

I train 2 hours in the morning and then 2 hours in the evening and do 10 sessions per week. The sessions are very intense with a lot of work in a short period of time.

Q. What do you do to warm up?

I start with a four lap jog of the track, which is about a mile, followed by stretching. I take about 50 minutes to warm up when I am training and about an hour when I am competing.

Q. Do you listen to music when you train?

I do. Nothing in particular but when I train I like to play some upbeat songs on shuffle.

Q. What are the good and bad things about being an athlete?

Well on the good side it keeps me very fit and healthy but sacrifices do have to be made and I don’t get to spend as much time with my friends and family as I would like. However, when you get to compete in front of thousands of people, in Melbourne I ran in front of 90,000 people, nothing can compare to that and it makes it all worthwhile.

Q. Who is your favourite competitor to race?

A lot of the athletes I train with I am friends with away from the track but on the track I don’t like to be friends with anyone as I don’t like them beating me!

Q. Are you allowed any treats like chocolate?

As an athlete it is important to have a healthy balanced diet. If you put good food into your body it will give you energy and you will perform better. The odd treat is acceptable though and I do like my chocolate!

Q. What is the highlight of your career?

There have been lots of highlights but my favourite was winning silver at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games. It was my first major games and it was also a home games taking place in the UK. The stadium I ran in is now Manchester City’s home ground so there was 60,000 people there and when my name was announced at the start of the final the noise from the crowd was unbelievable. Even to think about it now makes me emotional so I can only imagine what it will be like at the London 2012 Games – that will hopefully be my new highlight!

Q. What was the first medal you won?

I won medals at west district and school champs when I was younger. My silver at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth games was my first major event medal though.

Q. What does it feel when you are standing on the podium and you have won a medal?

It is hard to put that into words, but is the best feeling you could ever imagine. I work hard during the winter months but when you stand on the podium having won a medal it makes it all worthwhile.

Q. Do you have other family members that are sporty?

I would say no, but my mum and dad would argue that! They are fans of sport but they didn’t have the same opportunities I did so they could have been every bit as successful as I was – I need to say that!

Q. Who is your sporting hero?

I have a few people I admire at all levels from club and senior level. Sally Gunnell and Linford Christie were inspiring during the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 but also Derek Redmond who tore his hamstring during his race, but still walked to the finish line. It showed how much it meant to finish a race at such a big event.

Q. How many medals do you have?

From major championships I have won 2 commonwealth games medals, 2 world championship medals, 2 European Championship medals, 3 indoor European Championship medals so 9 in total, but I have won medals from British championships as well.

Q. How do you cope with celebrity life?

I wouldn’t say I have a celebrity life but I am lucky to have a lot of public support with people saying well done or good luck which is really nice to have.

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Did you know?

  • 35m – height of the Basketball Arena, the same as London's Tate Modern and the Falkirk Wheel
  • 800,000 – the number of people expected to use public transport to travel to the London 2012 Games on the busiest day: about the same number as the combined population of Cardiff and Edinburgh.
  • The London 2012 Olympic Games ticket application process is open from 15 March to 26 April 2011.
  • The London 2012 Olympic Games will have 300 medal events for 26 Olympic Sports in 34 venues over 17 days of competition.
  • In 2012 up to 25,000 people could be transported to and from Stratford International Station each hour on the Javelin® train from St Pancras International station, in less than seven minutes.
  • If all London 2012 sports events were held on consecutive days, there would be 318 competition days for Olympic Games events and another 133 days for the Paralympic Games.
  • ATHENS 2004: The marathon races followed the same route as the 1896 race, beginning in Marathon and ending in Athens' Panathenaic Stadium. Vanderlei de Lima (BRA) was in the lead with less than 7 kilometres to go when he was pushed off the course.
  • SYDNEY 2000: Korea (South Korea) and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) marched together under the same flag.
  • The dining room in the London Olympic Village will be the size of three football fields and seat 5,000. It will serve an estimated 100 tonnes of meat alone.
  • MUNICH 1972: Mark Spitz won seven gold medals and broke seven world records.
  • BARCELONA 1992: In the women's 100m sprint Merlene Ottey (JAM) finished only six-hundredths of a second behind the winner, Gail Devers (USA), and yet she ended up in only fifth place.
  • MELBOURNE / STOCKHOLM 1956: To avoid the problem of quarantine for horses, the equestrian events took place in two different cities (Stockholm and Melbourne), and in two different seasons (June and November).
  • SEOUL 1988: South Korea turned democratic in order to welcome the world to the Summer Games.
  • The London 2012 Olympic Stadium will have an 80,000 seat capacity.
  • LONDON 1908: The first time a relay was included in the athletics events.
  • PARIS 1900: The first woman to win an Olympic event was England's Charlotte Cooper, who won the tennis singles.
  • Following the London 1948 Olympic Games, Lloyds was given a 1948 Torch thought to have been donated by an employee who ran with it.
  • 8.8 million tickets will be available for the London 2012 Olympic Games, with another 2 million for the Paralympic Games.
  • The London 2012 Paralympic Games will award 471 medal events for 20 Paralympic sports in 21 venues over 11 days of competition.
  • There are 26 Olympic sports and 20 Paralympic sports in the London 2012 Games.
  • Ancient Olympics: The word gymnasium comes from the Greek root "gymnos" meaning nude (and yes, they did).
  • 53m – height of the Olympic Stadium: three metres taller than Nelson’s Column in London's Trafalgar Square.
  • TOKYO 1964: The first Fair Play prize awarded to Lars Gunnar Kall and Stig Lennart Kall, who gave up their chances of winning the regatta to help two other competitors whose boat had sunk.
  • 90% - proportion of material reclaimed from demolition within the Olympic Park which can be reused or recycled.
  • There are 700 rooms within the Olympic Stadium, including eight changing rooms and four prayer rooms.
  • 76 – number of lifts in the Olympic Village to ensure the buildings are fully accessible.
  • More than one million people will visit the Olympic Stadium for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.
  • 11 – number of residential blocks within the Olympic Village, each the size of a football pitch.
  • Our history with the Olympic Movement dates back to 1948 when Lloyds provided banking facilities to the 1948 Games, the last time they were held in London.
  • Around 900,000 items of sports equipment will be needed for the Olympic Games including 1424 FIFA-approved footballs, 1100 Badminton shuttlecocks and 65,000 towels.
  • The Olympic Park is the size of 357 football pitches.
  • A ticket application process was announced by LOCOG as a way of ensuring a fairer process in order to make London 2012 everyone’s Games.
  • For London 2012, rail links to the Olympic Park will have capacity to take more than 240,000 people to the Park every hour.

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