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SSE to fund 100 young athletes as fans tweet their heroes to glory

04 Aug 2014
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Scotland triumphed at the Commonwealth Games with a record breaking medal haul - and their fans were behind them every step of the way.

The country took top spot in SSE’s Home Nations #GO leaderboard, securing the biggest online support during the Games.

The win means 25 more young Scottish athletes will join SSE’s Next Generation programme, receiving vital funding to help them go for glory at the next Games.

SSE asked fans to spur on their team by tweeting #Go followed by the country of their choice, to help get behind all of the Home Nations.

A centralised hub monitored the social support which could be viewed on an interactive leaderboard.

At the Games in Glasgow, fans could get a selfie at the giant #Go and tweet it out.

SSE pledged to double its support for the SSE Next Generation programme from 50 to 100 young athletes and every tweet counted towards each nation securing additional spots.

Scotland notched up 18,113 tweets to romp home in 1st place.  Team Scotland captain and silver medallist Eilidh Child got in on the action, urging her fans to cheer her to glory by posing in front of the giant #Go at Glasgow Green.

Fellow SSE Ambassador Sir Chris Hoy also joined in at Glasgow Green and helped whip up support.

Wales not only secured their best ever medal haul but also funding for nine of its athletes after taking second place with 9,560 tweets.

Captain and silver medallist Aled Davies joined Tanni Grey Thompson to secure support for their young athletes.

Eight new English athletes will be inducted into the programme after it came third with 3,344 tweets while Northern Ireland will get seven for fourth place with 422 tweets.

Wendy Barbour, SSE’s Director of Commonwealth Games and Sport, said the programme is already delivering results.

She said:  “Three of our current SSE Next Generation athletes were competing at Glasgow 2014 with two of them winning medals.  These young athletes are dedicated to their sport, often juggling school or college with their hours of training.

“The financial help and mentoring SSE provides will now help 100 more young people, across the UK, take their sport to the next level.

“It was amazing to see the messages of support for each country and there’s no doubt it spurred the Home Nations on to a record-breaking Games in Glasgow.”