A COUNTY man who played a key role leading the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow has been presented with an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen.

Michael Cavanagh, from Haddington, was among the guests at the Palace of Holyroodhouse earlier this month.

The former chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland was joined by his wife and three children at the ceremony after being named in the New Year Honours.

Mr Cavanagh, who was at the helm in the lead-up and during the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, told the Courier: “It was a fantastic day – apart from the weather, which was awful and felt like it was November – but we managed to ignore that and have a great day.”

The home Games proved a massive success for both East Lothian and Scotland as a whole.

Josh Taylor, who has since gone on to great success in the professional ranks, took gold in the boxing; Alex Marshall did the double on the bowling green; Euan Burton took gold in judo; Dan Wallace won a gold and two silver medals in the swimming pool and Robert Blair claimed bronze on the badminton court.

Mr Cavanagh was chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland between 2007 and 2015 and also represented Scotland in wrestling at the 1982 games in Brisbane.

Since then, he has continued his connection to the Games and was wrestling coach at the 1994 Games and wrestling team manager at the Manchester Games in 2002.

Mr Cavanagh, who has lived in Haddington for almost 30 years, was honoured to be at the ceremony.

He said: “I saw something recently which said that this coming Sunday will be three years since the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.

“That was the last time I met the Queen.

“I was one of three people who welcomed her to Celtic Park and I had the conversation with her when she was handing over the medal.

“Time has flown by since then and there was still quite a lot to do afterwards.”

The competition proved a great success for Scotland, who finished fourth in the medal table – behind England, Australia and Canada.

Mr Cavanagh, who works with sportscotland, was pleased with the legacy that the Games had left behind as attention now switches to Australia’s Gold Coast, which will hold the Games in April.

He said: “There is lots of debate about the legacy and I understand that but we see the part of Glasgow that really benefited and where the Games village was is an area I know really well.

“From a sporting point of view, we wanted our best medal performance, which was [previously] 33 in 1986 [when the Games were held in Edinburgh].

“This time we got 53 medals and what we said we wanted to do was win medals but also create role models and heroes. I think that is a part of the legacy and Team Scotland did that.”

Mr Cavanagh was joined at the ceremony, where he received his award for services to sport and the Commonwealth Games movement, by daughters Clare, 33, and Annie, 30, as well as son Paul, 27, and wife Cathy.

He said: “It was fantastic having all of them at the ceremony. We made some plans afterwards and invited some family and friends from all parts of my life.”