Nick Percy reveals sacrifices to reach Olympics as he thanks family for helping him realise Paris dream

Nick Percy insists a lifetime of sacrifices have paid off as he prepares to end a 64-year wait for a male Scots discus thrower to line up at the Olympics.

The Glasgow-born star got the nod to pack for Paris after taking silver in the UK Championships. Percy’s throw of 58.56m was way off his mammoth personal best 67.73m launch in Oklahoma back in April.

But it will still be enough to clinch one of two spots for the Olympics - and end a six-decade wait for a Scot to follow in the footsteps of Mike Lindsay who competed in the 1960 Games in Rome.

The 29-year-old can’t wait to realise a lifetime dream in the Stade de France after years of toil to reach the top. And the Isle of Wight-based star reckons it’s payback for both his own and his family’s commitment to the cause.

He said: “My family will be ecstatic. It’s been a lot of years of commitment and sacrifice. My sister Brogan has sacrificed as much as my parents and as much as I have.

“A lot of time not being able to go and see them, recently not being able to go and see my niece because of training and with work commitments and stuff like that.

“It’ll be nice to be able to give them a call and say Uncle Nick is going to the Olympics. Or Uncle Dick Dick as I’m called because she can’t say her Ns yet!

“I think it’s the cutest thing ever. It’s the kind of things with kids that ground you a bit. But I think everyone will be proud.”

Despite hitting the mark for Paris, Percy still couldn’t shake the feeling of frustration at his performance in Manchester after failing to add to his five British titles.

Chuck Osammor took gold with a 59.98m throw to nail top spot and clinch his own Olympics place.

And Percy, who finished fifth at the Commonwealth Games two years ago, admitted: “The performance in my mind was nowhere what it should be.

“I was frustrated but it is what it is. Criteria hit with top two was all they asked for. It was my own head, my own nerves and it’s the first time I’ve gone into a championship as the favourite with a standard for a championship.

“It wasn’t just that I was No1 and I was throwing for me, I was throwing for a goal to get somewhere.

“I couldn’t slow the heart-rate down, couldn’t get the feeling on the disc and everything just got away from me.

“We tried, I did my best, it wasn’t good but on the day at a champs you beat who’s in front of you. It was good enough for second and I’m very proud of that.

“I still had a silver medal around my neck which is nine medals out of ten years so it’s still a very good run to have. I just need to do better over the next couple of weeks.”