“The performance of Scotland in the three Commonwealth Games since 2002 is particularly noteworthy,” suggested Shibli.
“These are three full cycles of Sport Lottery Fund support for athletes and show that, after three cycles of continual decline from the peak of 1986 to the low of 1998, Scotland has achieved a step change in its performance.”
So, can money make medals? The answer would seem to be yes. But how much they cost is hard to guess.
SportScotland spends £65m a year of Government and Lottery money on supporting our elite athletes and sport development. But that’s only about 10% of all the money spent on sport in Scotland every year. Local authorities provide the rest.
Badminton Scotland has complained about SportScotland cuts in funding and what it claims is an unfair distribution of grants among sports represented in the 2014 Games. Those complaints have been dismissed by SportScotland, but they will be heard on behalf of the Sports Minister, Shona Robison, on Thursday at a meeting in Glasgow between senior civil servant Sir Harry Burns and Ronnie Conway, the lawyer representing Badminton Scotland.
In particular, Mr Conway has alleged that Scottish Wrestling has not held an annual meeting or submitted accounts.
Not true, says Scottish Wrestling. It says the allegations are baseless.
Gerry Malone, the SWA president, said: “SportScotland have publicly stated that all financial accounts have been received from SWA up to the end of the 2010 financial year.
“An SWA AGM was held in July 2011, which was inquorate because a number of clubs who had been demanding an AGM chose not to attend, for reasons known only to them. The SWA AGM has now been rescheduled for October 2011.”
SportScotland estimate wrestling could win three or four medals in Glasgow.
It could happen, but Shibli reckons one obvious way in which Scotland could improve its overall performance in the Commonwealth Games is to take advantage of the increased medal-winning opportunities in events for women.
He says the evidence from recent Games is that the gap between men and women is narrowing and Scotland’s success has in part been driven by women winning medals in more sports than before.