'Everyone has different Everest in Team Scotland'

Commonwealth Games

Where: Glasgow When: July 23- Aug 2

When you've done the things Duncan Scott has done and won the medals he has won, it would perhaps be understandable should the Commonwealth Games lose a little of its lustre.

But not so. The 28-year-old swimmer seems to revel in it.

Think back to Birmingham, and the last edition, when he became the most decorated Scottish athlete in the event's history by taking his medal tally to 13.

The image of the taciturn Scot standing atop the podium, roaring the words of Flower of Scotland towards his exuberant team-mates as they roared them back, remains one of the abiding images of those Games.

But behind the swish of ribbons and the clank of metal lies a more profound sense of why this event matters to Scott, who has become the first swimmer to be named in Team Scotland for next year's reimagined event in Glasgow.

For the Alloa native, the Commonwealths are about cameraderie. About the environment. About competing alongside those you've known for years and sharing in their successes, whatever those look like.

"I love that we are all part of a team where everyone has a different Everest," Scott told BBC Sport Scotland.

"Some just want to be there, some want to reach a final, others are looking for a medal, and some are big-name Olympians and I love that disparity.

"In Team GB, it's all about the elite, but in Team Scotland we've all grown up together in the sport and know each other's journeys and are really invested in each other being successful, in whatever form that takes.

"Each person's goal is just as important to everyone else - and I love that."

Scott's goal in Birmingham was six medals and he came home with 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley gold among his haul. Add eight Olympic medals - no Scot has won more - and his place in the pantheon is assured.

The competitor in him wants more, of course, even if his schedule next summer is likely to be lighter in a nod to his advancing years.

He intends to defend his two gold medals and is relishing the 4x200m freestyle relay given the strength of the home nations - an event in which he won his first Commonwealth medal 11 years ago in Glasgow's Tollcross pool.

"I was 17 and got my place quite late - I was a bit of a wildcard," he recalls. "The emotion will be the same this time, even if I might not be quite as nervous.

"It's not often you get one home Games, never mind two, so that's special and to be named in the squad so early takes a bit of the pressure off."