Olympic Games: Team GB cyclist Jack Carlin has announced his retirement

Less than a month ago, Carlin spoke of his delight at the Commonwealth Games returning to Glasgow next summer. Not least because he now lives close to the Sir Chris Hoy Racecourse, where the cycling will take place.

But his decision to resign had already been made, and a retrospective examination of what he said at the time shows ambiguity about his ambitions for the event.

As a would-be boy of the reimagined event – as a child he sat in the stands in 2014 and won medals at the next two Games – was it difficult to walk away from the opportunity to make a glorious career end?

“It was the elephant in the room,” Carlin said of Glasgow 2026.

“The people I’ve told have asked me: ‘What about Glasgow?’ “But we’re less than a year away and I’d be doing myself and the shirt a disservice if I decided to try to put it around my back again when I’m not in good shape to do so.”

Karelin doesn’t need that elusive gold medal or another wave of adoration from his home crowd to validate his achievements.

These are achievements that place him fourth on the list of all-time Scottish Olympic medal winners, behind Duncan Scott, Sir Chris Hoy and Katherine Grainger.

As he says, many of his competitors will leave the sport without ribbons around their necks and precious metals in their hands.

Like him, they will have memories, experiences and friendships, and these are the things – like the medals – that the Scot will cherish when he thinks about them.

“It’s rare for someone to walk away while still rubbing their shoulders up there,” he adds. “But you have to be able to give 100%.

“I can get away with saying: I gave my all, I gave my whole body to this sport, and I am satisfied.”

“I started this journey when I was 14 and my mom and dad gave up the time and money we didn’t have to allow me to chase this dream.

“And if someone had told Wee Jack from Paisley a decade ago that he would have four Olympic medals around his neck, he wouldn’t have believed him.”