So, the time has come at last...  Who is In The Winning Zone’s ultimate Scottish Olympic legend?

Well, as we have been judging the contenders on podium success all along, there is only one man who can lay claim to the title.  One man who has more precious metal with the five rings engraved than anyone else... Rodney Pattison.

The sailing supremo, who represented Scotland at three Olympic Games between 1968 and 1976, is the proud owner of two gold medals, and a silver, leaving the likes of Shirley Robertson, David Wilkie, Allan Wells, Chris Hoy( until after Beijing, at least), Dick McTaggart and Eric Liddell trailing in his wake.

And what a wake this master seaman has produced as well.  Simply put, he is one of the greatest sailors ever to have lived.  And to hold that crown in Scotland, where the likes of Robertson and Sir Chay Blyth have also done wondrous deeds for the sport, is no mean feat.

Here’s his Olympic record, yet to be bettered, or equalled, by another Scot:
1968 – Mexico City
Gold – Flying Dutchman
1972 – Munich
Gold – Flying Dutchman
1976 – Montreal
Silver – Flying Dutchman

The sailing Scotsman dominated the Flying Dutchman event for almost a decade.  But what was most amazing about his feat was that the Flying Dutchman is a team event – and he worked with a different partner in each Games, still managing to medal every time.

Born on 4th August 1943 in Campbeltown, Argyll, the young Pattison attended Pangbourne College in Reading, a school specialising in nautical training.  He graduated from there to join the Royal Navy.  And so the foundation was laid for a Scottish sailor to become his country’s greatest Olympian.

When he was selected for the British Olympic squad in 1968, aged 24, Pattison’s preparation for the Mexico event was as professional, meticulous and strategic as any modern-day athlete could hope for, even now. 

Pairing up with Ian MacDonald Smith, a solicitor from London, Pattison and his team-mate undertook an expansive reconnaissance mission, travelling out to Acapulco on the Pacific waters of Mexico two months prior to the Games to practice on the very waters where they would soon be competing. 

Just as Lance Armstrong proved in the Tour de France in the late 90s and early 00s, nothing prepares an athlete for their mission more than going out there and doing it time and time again in preparation.  Pasttison was indeed a pioneer of high-performance preparation.

For the 1968 Olympics, drawing inspiration from the Mary Poppins Disney film released four years earlier, Pattison and MacDonald Smith named their 20ft  Flying Dutchman class yacht “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, but soon re-entitled it “Superdocious”, as the former name was too long.

Their preparation, and confident name-tagging of their vessel, paid off.  To quote an entirely appropriate cliché, Pattison and MacDonald Smith blew their opposition out of the water, winning five of their seven races, one of the biggest winning margins ever recorded.  He became Scotland’s first ever sailing medallist.

But Pattison’s success was significant beyond sailing.  The last Scot to win an Olympic gold was Dick McTaggart, way back in 1956.  He was the only athlete in a generation to accomplish such an achievement for his country.

Post-Mexico, after three years of domination on the world stage, winning the World Championships in 1969, 1970 and 1971, (the first two with MacDonald Smith) Pattison was in fine fettle to go forth an win his next gold medal in Munich, becoming the first Scotsman to win two golds at the Games.

For the German games Pattison recruited a new team-mate, Christopher Davies.  Held in the Port of Kiel, Pattison proved that class is permanent by defeating French pair Yves and Marc Pajot in the same event, the Flying Dutchman. 

Once again, Pattison was Scotland’s sole gold medallist, though a teenage swimmer named David Wilkie, who went on to win gold four years later, and 400m runner David Jenkins both returned home with silver.

His accolade of being a double gold medallist won him the prestigious honour of being the flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada. 

This time he got together with Justin Brooke Houghton, the man with whom he won his third World Championship in 1971.  Having defeated West German pair Ulrich Libor and Pater Naumann to take the gold with MacDonald Smith in 1968, this time however it was the Germans’ turn to bag top spot, as they beat the British duo in the race for gold.

Pattison’s subsequent silver, however, makes all the difference in this countdown.  His fellow sailor and compatriot, Shirley Robertson also won two golds for Scotland, but by capturing that last silver in ’76, Pattison has cemented his place at In The Winning’s Zone number one Scottish Olympic Legend.

The Scottish Olympic Legend countdown from 5 to 1...
5.  Eric Liddell and Dick McTaggart – 1 gold, 1 bronze each
4. Chris Hoy and Allan Wells – 1 gold, 1 silver each (pre-Beijing)
3. David Wilkie – 1 gold, 2 silvers
2. Shirley Robertson – 2 golds
1. Rodney Pattison – 2 golds, 1 silver

RO
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