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However it falls to a resident of Falkirk to give Scotland its earliest, and then-greatest, achievement in the aquatic arena - step forward Robert Bilsland McGregor, MBE.
A native of Helensburgh, born in 1944, Bobby had a good bloodline calling him towards a career in the water. Father David was a leading member of the water polo team which travelled to Berlin in 1936 - the only Scotsman in the squad. As if that were not enough to convince McGregor junior to pursue a piscine path, David was also the baths master of Falkirk.
With his father's position in the town, Bobby was able to get to the baths before the public started their weekly Saturday morning queue for the 8am opening time. More often than not, the lucky few who got in early would find Bobby already there, completing yet another swift 25 yards under instruction of father David, carefully monitoring his handheld stopwatch.
It came as little surprise that with a supportive taskmaster behind him, Bobby would win the Falkirk Primary Schools championship a year after his first taste of the pool, aged nine. That taste of success spurred the youngster into a daily routine which saw him in the pool by 7am each day, and in turn led McGregor to the Scottish junior freestyle champion over 100 yards.
His first international call-up came shortly thereafter - representing his country against Wales and Ireland at the age of 16. A charging swim brought him another 100-yard championship, only just missing the national junior record held by fellow Scot, Ian Black.
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Just weeks before he was due to travel to the 1964 Olympiad in Tokyo, the British championships put him right at the forefront. A time of 53.5 seconds in the newly-lengthened 110-yard freestyle final, showed how much progress the "Falkirk Flyer" had made - the new record time was quicker than his time in the shorter 100-yard final only two years previously.
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