Scotland's first para-gymnastics team aiming for glory in 2032

Scotland’s first para-gymnastics team has set its sights set on competing at the Paralympics in 2032.

The discipline has been made part of the games for the first time, giving Scottish hopefuls a route to the top and an opportunity to win gold.

Gymnast Iona Timmon, aged 11, told STV News: “My biggest dream is to make it to the Paralympics and get a medal on the beam or floor. The most challenging thing is the beam. because I’m doing walkovers and I’m most scared of that.”

The young athletes compete in floor, beam and bar work. While more challenging with a disability, this group excel across the board.

Zara Coote, 11, said, “My dad signed me up about two years ago because it was the disability section. I love doing gymnastics – to be with my friends and learn new skills.

“I like doing a ‘giant’ on the bars. To do that you cast up to handstand then swing all the way around the bar, then land on the floor, or a backflip round off, which is like a cartwheel with your feet together and then a backflip.”

Zara’s passion and success is source of pride for her family.

Kelly Coote, Zara’s mum, told STV News: “She has got a fantastic opportunity, along with her teammates here, to participate in a sport she loves, enjoys and wants to really do well in.

“And, if I’m being really honest, as a visually impaired person myself, we didn’t have that opportunity in my generation. So, it’s great to see that she has that opportunity now and I’m just so proud of what she can achieve and will achieve.”

The team are role models to younger hopefuls, showing anything is possible on the mat.

But inclusion at elite level has been decades in the making.

Angela Turner, lead disability coach at Glasgow Gymnastics Club, said “There wasn’t an international pathway.

“They worked really hard, they trained the same as the other gymnasts in the gym but there wasn’t anything for them to aim for beyond the international championships.

“Thye are just so enthusiastic about this now, they see themselves going to international competitions, going to the Paralympics, and it’s taken a long time to get here.”

With a national competition in March, the team will then turn their attention to the World Championships.

Success there could well be a springboard to the Paralympics for these young stars.