SWIMMING star Dan Wallace admits he thought about quitting the sport this year but now has his sights firmly set on the Commonwealth Games in Australia. 

Wallace, pictured below (right) with fellow swimmers Ieuan Lloyd and Jazz Carlin, was banned from the sport for three months earlier this year after a drink-driving conviction.

And the 24-year-old, an Olympic silver medalist and three-time Commonwealth Games medalist in Glasgow three years ago, admitted he contemplated walking away from the sport.

In an interview with the BBC, he said: “I could have hung up my goggles and walked away – I wouldn’t have had to speak to anyone about [the charge]. 

“I wanted to prove that I could come back from this. It is easy to do well when things are going well but it is really hard to do well after you’ve had a really bad time.”

Wallace, who was born in Dunbar and grew up in North Berwick, was also arrested shortly before the 2014 Commonwealth Games after urinating on a police car in America, where he was training. 

And he admits he has struggled with being a “boring athlete” in the past.
He said: “Athletes are pretty boring and I don’t want to be a boring athlete, I want to be myself. 

“That’s why I have been so successful but also why I have had my downfalls. 

"It’s about getting balance now.”

On going to the Gold Coast next year, he said: “I am taking one step at a time and right now my focus is on making sure the public in Scotland remember me for success there and not for what happened six months ago.”

The county ace did, though, vow to bring home gold if he is selected for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.