Lucy Hope insists she’s not made any concrete plans about which path her life will follow post-Glasgow 2026 but she does acknowledge that a home Commonwealth Games, her second home Commonwealth Games, would be the perfect ending to her career.
However, it’s a possibility she’s not allowing herself to linger upon, not yet anyway.
Before Hope, who is one of Scotland’s longest-serving international swimmers, makes any decisions about hanging-up her goggles, she has the small matter of Glasgow 2026 to concentrate on.
29-year-old Hope is the eldest of Scotland’s 25-strong swimming squad for this summer’s Commonwealth Games and she’s one of only two swimmers, the other being Duncan Scott, who’s looking forward to their second Commonwealth Games on Scottish soil having competed at Glasgow 2014 twelve years ago.
In that intervening period, Hope has amassed a wealth of major championship appearances, as well as a cabinet full of medals.
Her career highlights include seven relay European titles, as well as World Championship relay silver, and she admits that if someone had told the teenage Hope pre-Glasgow 2014 that, over a decade on, she’d still be competing on the highest stage, she’s have scarcely believed it. And the freestyle specialist from Melrose is fully embracing her role as one of the veterans of the team this summer and she will, she hopes, be able to pass some of her experience onto the younger members of the squad.
“This will be my fourth Commonwealth Games so it's really exciting to be back in Glasgow,” she says.
“I’m going from being a rookie in 2014 to now being one of the oldest in the team, this will be a bit of a different Games for me and actually, I don't even know some of the younger swimmers so it'll be really exciting to get to know them, and hopefully share some of my knowledge with them, if they ask for it.
“Thinking back to how I felt at Glasgow 2014, it can be daunting so if any of the younger ones have any questions, I'm always open to answer them.”
Despite Hope’s success over the past decade, one of the few gaps in her resume is a Commonwealth Games medal and given the strength of the women in this Scottish squad, freestyle sprinter Hope is optimistic that a Commonwealth medal may, finally, be within her reach which would be both a personal triumph and a matter of national pride.
“The medals throughout my career have all been in relays and it's been really special being able to do it with either three other girls, or if it's a mixed team, two guys and two girls,” she says.
“In some ways, relays feel almost more patriotic because it's not your name on the board, it's Scotland, so you really feel like you're out there representing your country.
“I've had a lot of experience being part of Scotland teams and GB teams over the past 12 years and now, being able to help everyone bring out their best performance is what ultimately the end goal is.
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“In a relay, you've got four people, and unless all four are on their game, it won't work. You can't do it by yourself, and you need the other people around you. For me, over the past four or five years, I've been able to really bring that out in a relay setting, and hopefully I'll be able to do that for Team Scotland this summer because if I will, that will be extra special.
“The Scottish girls have got such a good chance in the 4x100m freestyle that I think we might surprise some people so it's about trying to really bring out our best on the day.”
While a medal would be the dream outcome in Glasgow, Hope has her future to think of, whatever her results. And so, could Glasgow 2026 be Hope’s final competitive appearance? She remains undecided but she’s also aware that bookending her international career with home Commonwealth Games’ would tie things up almost perfectly.
“I don't want to say definitively that Glasgow will be the end of my career but Glasgow 2014 was my first senior champs so it would be the full circle to end in Glasgow too.
“Looking back on my career, I've seen and done so much. If you'd told me when I was 14 or 15 that I'd have been to two Olympics, been in three Olympic finals and swum for Scotland at four Commonwealth Games, I just wouldn't have believed you.
“A Commonwealth medal could be the perfect send-off but at the end of the day, you can't control what other people are doing. So I'll just try my best and what will be, will be.”
