Young swimmer Andrew Mayor has competed a number of times for Scotland, and he earned his first British cap at the Paris Meet this summer. Now he's looking forward to making his debut in a major championship at the European short-course Championships, in Hungary next month.

It's a career that is shaping up extremely well, and the 21-year-old fully appreciates his good fortune at being around at such an opportune time in British sport.

A member of British swimming's world-class development programme, he has a chance of making the Olympic team for Beijing next year, but the principal focus is the 2012 Games in London.

"Obviously I'm a little biased," admitted the friendly youngster. "But I feel we have such great talent in Scottish and British swimming at the moment and I'm delighted to be part of it.

"With the 2012 Olympic in the pipeline, it is such an exciting time to be involved in British sport. We are now beginning to take it seriously. I do feel very privileged to be in my position. At the moment, I'm just soaking everything up and making the most of every opportunity.

"I am so lucky because, in 2012, I should be at the peak of my ability. I'm 21 and I've still got quite a bit to go to mature physically. At the moment, I'm building up as much experience as possible."

A victory in the 50m butterfly and medals in the 100m and 200m events at this year's British Championships sounded the klaxon that announced Mayor's arrival at the height of the British scene.

"Doing well at the British Championships was my best achievement so far," he confirmed. "And I'm literally over the moon at getting into the British team for the European short-course championships.

"I'll be trying for the British team for Beijing. I definitely have the Olympics in mind for next year, although it is a bit of a long shot. It will be a bonus if I make it."

Born in Dumfries, Andrew and his older brother, Robert, were introduced to swimming by their parents - Robert and Maureen - at a local pool at Annan. With both boys radiating talent, Maureen became fully involved in the swimming scene by taking a number of coaching qualifications. "We all learned together," reflected Andrew.

Coached by Mum, Robert (now retired) earned Scottish caps swimming breaststroke, and Andrew also started in the same discipline before switching to butterfly. "When I started to grow, my timing went off in breaststroke and so I switched to butterfly and have stuck with it," he explained.

When he moved to Newcastle to study for a degree in business management at Northumbria University, Andrew's swimming career also diverted down south and he is now with the City of Newcastle Club, training with a squad motivated by the vastly experienced head coach, Ian Oliver.

"I've got my degree and now swimming is the priority, although I am looking for a part-time job that could go along with it. Unfortunately, we're not paid as well as footballers," he said. "But I do get some funding from the Lottery and UK sport."

But Mayor's only serious career path for the next five years is making it to the top of his chosen sport. The 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi should be one highlight - "I narrowly missed the team for Melbourne last year." As for London 2012, he reckons that the sky's the limit.

EB
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