22-year-old Ross Murdoch established himself on the international swimming scene at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, when the Scottish breaststroker nabbed gold in the 200m event ahead of 2012 Olympic silver medalist and teammate Michael Jamieson.
Murdoch followed that performance up with a bronze medal in Kazan in the 100m breaststroke event at the 2015 FINA World Championships, before earning silver in the 50m and 100m breaststroke races at the 2016 British Olympic Trials this past April. The University of Stirling-trained athlete is headed to Rio to compete in the latter event and recently spoke with Scottish Swimming regarding his goal for both the team and himself, as well as where he’s at physically with the Games just days away.
In terms of the Scottish squad as a whole, Murdoch says in the video that, “We’ve had a fantastic run of meets for our young team. Everyone is a racer on our team and we want to carry our momentum in to Rio.”
“Michael Jamieson really opened my eyes to the fact that Scottish swimmers really can get medals. Scotland is just such a talented nation and swimming is becoming one of our strongest sports.”
On a personal level, Murdoch’s goal in the 100m breast is to make the final. “If you’ve got a lane, you’ve got a chance. I am going to swim my heart out,” says the Scot, who gives ‘easygoing, hardworking and dedicated’ as the 3 words to describe himself.
Before he gets the opportunity, he and his teammates will need to work out the final kinks with the Olympic Games opening ceremony kicking off on August 5th. Taper is a funny thing, according to Murdoch. “Sometimes you feel great, like I can break a world record, other days I feel bad. I just have to work through it.”
Video courtesy of Scottish Swimming.