Tuesday 16 September 2014 13:17, UK
Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Sport Shona Robison is confident athletes would choose to represent Scotland at the Rio Olympics if the country votes for independence.
Scotland faces the prospect of becoming a separate nation if there is a ‘yes’ vote in Thursday’s Scottish Independence referendum.
And Robison believes athletes would happily choose to represent Scotland over Great Britain at the next Olympics, but insists the decision lies with them.
“We will be going forward and meeting with the IOC to make sure we can get a representation in Rio in 2016,” Robison told Sky Sports News HQ.
“Now ultimately we have also said it’s up to individual athletes which team they choose to compete for.
“We hope and expect that with the idea of Team Scotland producing its first team in Rio, Scottish athletes will want to be part of that but it will be their choice.”
But IOC vice-president Sir Craig Reedie believes assembling an Olympic squad and forming an Olympic committee in time for 2016 may not be possible.
“I don’t think there will be any difficulty in creating a National Olympic Committee here in Scotland but in terms of Rio it’s probably too tight,” said the Scot.
And former British 400m runner Brian Whittle, now a spokesman for Better Together Sport, fears an independent Scotland would not be able to sufficiently fund and support a full Olympic squad.
“There is no way in the world that we can replicate what Great Britain have done for sport and have brought sport forward,” he said.
“We are the envy of the world in terms of our support set up. We can’t replicate that. It’s impossible financially.
“What would have to happen is basically some of the sports would have to be swept aside and you would have to pick specific sports we think we are going to do well in.”
