Sarah Adlington is already a history maker but the Scottish judo player is aiming to bow out in style at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The Edinburgh athlete wants a golden swan-song and is looking to equal a record that has stood for over 70 years. No Scottish woman has won three Commonwealth Games gold medals since swimmer Elenor Gordon achieved the feat in the 1950s. Adlington has two already and would dearly love to add a third next summer. She will be 39 by the time the Games begin and the sport has taken its toll on her body but she believes she has it in her for one last tilt at glory. “I'm training hard and I think it will probably be the last time I compete if I make it to Glasgow,” she said. “And what a good way to end, to be honest.” Adlington will have to qualify - there are no free passes, even for double gold medal winners - but she is prepared to put herself through the wringer one last time. “Qualification runs until the end of May but yeah, I think a wee swan-song in Glasgow, it's too good an opportunity not to.” The city holds special memories for Adlington and her sport. When Glasgow hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2014 the sun shone and judo basked in the glory of a golden summer. It delivered more precious metal for the host nation than any other sport, including six of Scotland’s 19 gold medals. There were also two silvers and five bronzes, meaning that 13 of the 53 medals secured by the hosts in 2014 were won on the mat. “It was all a bit of a blur,” says Adlington. “It was just a fantastic week. The weather in Glasgow was amazing and then, as soon as you stepped outside the village, the people of Glasgow were amazing. “And then obviously there was the competition, and in judo we competed over the first three days and then got to enjoy Glasgow and everything about it for the rest of the time. “So it was absolutely amazing. We had really successful games in Glasgow and the buzz around the team then was absolutely amazing as well.” Adlington won Scotland’s penultimate judo gold of 2014, beating England’s Jodie Myers in the +78kg division at the SECC. Two sisters from Lanarkshire, the Renicks, had led the way for Scotland on the mat, with Kimberley and Louise both winning gold on the first day of competition. There were triumphs too for Sarah Clark, Euan Burton and Chris Sherington and it seemed that for those three days in July, Scotland had gone judo daft, with ‘Pyjama party’ headlines dominating the tabloids. “I think the team was full of world-class players that had achieved results on the world stage. So I think everyone was confident that they could go out and get a result,” said Adlington when asked to explain the extraordinary success which saw 13 of Scotland’s 14-string judo team win medals. “And then obviously the crowd of Glasgow just made it phenomenal. The Renicks sisters started us off on that first day, and then on the second day Sarah Clark won and it was fantastic. The momentum just kicked in.” It was a special time for judo but they were not able to build on it at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast because the Australian hosts decided not to include it. At that point, judo was an optional sport but since 2022 it has been a core sport. It returned three years ago when Birmingham was host city and Adlington made light of the eight-year gap, defending her title by beating Tulika Maan of India in the final to become the first Scottish judoka to win two Commonwealth Games gold medals. “I felt the pressure in Birmingham,” she said. “I think, because you've done it once, people just expect you to do it again. I kept saying, ‘it's sport, it's judo and there's no should have, would have - anything can happen’ but to come away and make history and win that second medal for Scotland….” The sentence is left unfinished and it was clearly an emotional moment for Adlington. Originally from Shrewsbury, she moved north to be part of the Judo Scotland set-up at the age of 17 and has embraced fully her adopted nation. “I actually remember hearing Flower of Scotland more in Birmingham than I do in Glasgow because it was the first time, I think, the crowd had heard Flower of Scotland, so they were absolutely buzzing to sing it. So, standing on top of the podium in Birmingham and hearing that was pretty epic, to be honest.” Adlington’s longevity in such a brutally physical discipline is a testament to her determination to overcome the setbacks that inevitably present themselves in elite sport. She failed to qualify for the London Olympic Games in 2012 and missed out again in Rio four years later but she made it to the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021. “I think a heavyweight player's experience comes into it,” she explained. “Also, we couldn't do judo in Covid time, so that maybe gave my body a bit of a reset and I had a lot of injuries when I was young, so we learnt better how to manage my body. “The cycle between London and Rio was terrible. I had a couple of operations, a couple of bad knee injuries, so I think, after that, we learnt that we had to manage my body and I guess that's why I'm still standing here today.” She’s the last judoka still competing from the golden generation of 2014 and now hopes for a final fling in Glasgow and the opportunity to emulate Elenor Gordon, the only Scottish female athlete to win three golds. The Hamilton swimmer's medals came when it was still known as the Empire Games, with success in the 220-yard breaststroke in 1950 and 1954 and also a relay triumph in ’54. Adlington's Commonwealth victories in 2014 and 2022 have already secured her place in the history books, regardless of what happens in Glasgow next summer. “I was the first Scottish judoka to do that, so I think whatever happens going into Glasgow 2026, and I'm obviously there to retain my title, no one can take away what I've already achieved.”