MICKY Yule has declared he has “unfinished business” after being selected to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.
The powerlifter has twice finished fourth at the major championships but is determined to get himself on the podium in Birmingham later this summer.
There are now less than six weeks until the Commonwealth Games – and about eight weeks until Yule’s event.
The countdown is well and truly on for Yule, of Wallyford, and the other athletes.
He said: “The Commonwealth Games has always been my favourite. I don’t care about saying that!
“It always seems to bring people together.
“There is a massive team unity and also it is the only major games that both the Olympic and Paralympic athletes join together for one team.
“Normally, you are separated, you catch up with people here and there, but there is that one team, one family feeling about the Commonwealth Games and it means that wee bit more.
“I have never managed to medal but, if I could perform and see the Saltire getting raised in Birmingham, it would be the top of my career.”
Yule lost both legs when he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) while on army duty in Afghanistan in 2010.
Since then, he has represented Scotland and Great Britain on the international stage in powerlifting.
As well as narrowly missing out on the podium at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and on Australia’s Gold Coast four years later, he also come home empty handed from the Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.
Finally, last year, he took bronze in the rescheduled Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
Time is running out for the 43-year-old to once again step onto the podium.
Yule, who now lives in Southampton, would be 45 when the Paralympic Games take place in Paris in 2024.
He said: “I would say this is going to be my final major competition.
“I will make a decision after it… if I win gold I might change my mind!
“I’m not really thinking about it – I am going to have to retire some day. I have always had unfinished business at the Commonwealth Games and I want to make sure I represent myself.”
He lifted 195 kilogrammes in a recent event, which would have been enough to win gold at the two previous Commonwealth Games.
Yule said: “You sometimes feel competitions are cursed.
“I was nowhere on form but I did not have an injury and I knew I could deal with any stuff on the day.
“We made sure we were in a position going into the last lift that we could strike and win a medal and I have never been there at Commonwealth Games.
“I’ve always been worrying about if my pec injury is going to blow up or my leg injury. I’ve never gone in only focused on performance.
“I have always had to deal with adapting training or hoping on the day I can pull something out.
“Over the next eight weeks, we will be trying to make sure, God willing, I don’t pick up an injury.”
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