Meet Ross Murdoch: Stirling student and Commonwealth gold medalist

The swimming champ chatted to us about training, Dusk nights out and life after winning gold.

We’ll give you a heads up- it’s not all champagne and parties.

Ross proudly donning his Glasgow 2014 attire

What’s your daily routine?

In the morning I’ll get up and have a couple of cereal bars before driving to training, once I get there I’ll do some stretching, swim in the morning, go to the gym, then I’ll either be at uni or go back to the flat and have something to eat.

That’s what I do pretty consistently throughout the week. Other than that I’ll just be cooking myself some dinner and going straight to bed. That’s pretty much it haha.

What do you usually have for breakfast?

Depends, sometimes I’ll cook something up like scrambled eggs or an omelette, and a few bagels. Sometimes I don’t put in as much effort and I’ll just make some porridge.

An omelette and a few bagels!? How many calories do you consume in a day?

It changes depending on the kind of set I have in the morning or evening. I can eat between 3500 and 5000. It’s not cos I like the taste of things, its just so I feel the next session and recover from the previous one.

Ross doesn’t look like the average consumer of 5000 calories a day

Do you drink alcohol much?

Not often, try my best to avoid it and nights out because it just ruins the rest of the week. But sometimes it’s good to just chill out and relax a bit.

How do you deal with the temptation to drink or go out?

In first year I lived in halls and really struggled with my diet. Sometimes I’d just want a take-out, living away from students now and with another athlete helps a lot .

Ross revealed he struggled with his diet in halls

Do you have any rituals or preparations before a race?

Before a race I normally do three jumps behind the block, I always make sure I’m on it last. I’m not sure why, it makes me feel more in control.

What motivates you to keep up your intense swimming regime?

Just the thought of in two years time there’s an Olympic Games and I want to be stood on the podium.

I have a poster on the back of my door of Cristo Redentor in Rio and something British Swimming provided me, it’s a list of things a champion’s mindset should have and I say them every morning before I leave my room.

British swimming sent Ross ‘A Champions Mindset’, which he recites every morning

How did you feel when you won the gold?

When I won the gold medal I was just completely shocked that I had actually won, I remember saying to my coach two weeks before that If I was beside Michael [Jamieson] on the third 50 at the turn I was gonna beat him.

I actually had a dream a few days before hand where I touched last at 50… it sort of played out exactly like the dream. It was just such a weird feeling that all the work I had done had paid off, but it was sort of depressing as well because that was five years of my life.

Ross literally achieved his dream of winning Gold

How far do you think you’ve came since the games?

I had the European championships where I won two individual silver medals, and two relay gold medals where I swam in the heats of the event and progressed the team onto the final… I’ve come on quite a bit, in terms of winning medals and progression of my career, but I’m still Ross, back at uni now so it’s just normal life.

Just trying to keep going as a normal athlete and stay as I was before the games and not become one of those people that get caught up in what they’ve done.

Have many people do you know that have been caught up in the fame?

There’s a lot of people I’ve seen that have been successful in the past at a sort of British national level and they get a bit cocky so their work ethic starts to drop.

I really don’t want to be that person. I don’t think there’s any room for complacency in sport, you just got to keep working hard.

The national swimming academy, on Stirling campus

How have students around campus been towards you since the win?

I remember one time two people were sat in front of me in a lecture and they were tweeting me at the same time. I was kinda like, what is this? It still seems all really weird to me that people want to know me and are excited to see me, but I try to just get on with it as best as I can.

One time in Dusk someone came up to me at the bar and asked me if I was Ross Murdoch so I said yeah and they went “Shut up I don’t believe you!” They tried to ask me for my driving licence…It’s just a bit weird having people approach me when I’m just trying to enjoy a night out.

It’s bad enough having the bouncer ask for ID let alone other people

There must be some part of the fame you enjoy though. How did you react when you got verified on Twitter?

I was buzzing, I was absolutely buzzing!

Ross Murdoch: Great guy…but a not so great Movember attempt