Sheppard swims to gold for Scotland

03 August 2002

The women's 50m freestyle final tonight saw long awaited success for Scotland as Alison Sheppard strikes gold.

Sheppard strikes it gold for Scotland

Gold medallist Alison Sheppard left the other competitors in her wake as she drove her way up the pool. The Scotland star completed the race in a time of 24.76 seconds.

She commented: "I was so excited to win here. It's almost home - it's just down the road. It's been a long time coming. Tonight wasn't faster than the semis, but I just wanted to win."

"I'm so pleased to do that in front of a home crowd. I didn't look where anyone else was. I just wanted to swim my own race."

Australia's Jodie Henry finished second, and won the silver medal, in a time of 25.37 seconds.

She said: "I wanted to get in there and do a good time. I was concentrating on beating my personal best, and I did, so I am very happy with that. I didn't beat it in the 100, so it was good to do it in at least one race."

New Zealand's Toni Jeffs won bronze with a swim of 25.48 seconds.