Jade O'Dowda says competing at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games will be a full-circle moment inspired by her childhood memories of the event as she prepares for her second Games representing Team England.
Childhood Inspiration Becomes Reality
After being inspired by the previous Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Oxford heptathlete Jade O'Dowda will be fulfilling a childhood dream when the competition returns to the city this month. This will be the 26-year-old's second Games after her debut in 2022 ended with her being presented with a bronze medal as she shared a podium with team-mate Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who claimed gold.
Although O'Dowda will again be part of Team England, there is some Scottish blood in her family, making this something of a home Games for her. The venue may have changed from 2014 – with the athletics competitions set to take place at Scotstoun Stadium rather than Hampden Park – but that's done nothing to quell her excitement.
Scottish Roots and Full-Circle Moment
O'Dowda said: "My grandad was Scottish, so there's a bit of Scottish in me somewhere. I remember being sat at home watching the Glasgow Commonwealth Games on TV and thinking that it was so cool, so to now be able to go there and compete there myself is almost a full circle moment. In 2014, I'd only really just started. I went down to the local track after the 2012 Olympics after obviously being inspired by that. Little me watching the TV would never have thought that she would be competing in something like that, so it's definitely a full circle moment and I'm just excited to go out there and experience it."
Big Summer on British Soil
For O'Dowda, this is a big summer of competing on British soil, with the Commonwealth Games being followed by the European Championships, which are being held at the scene of her bronze medal from 2022, Birmingham's Alexander Stadium.
She set a new personal best of 6,391 points in the heptathlon at last year's World Championships in Tokyo as she finished eighth, but she spent the winter recovering from a niggling Achilles injury.
This season, she came close to beating her PB in May's Hypo-Meeting in Gotzis, Austria where she ran her fastest-ever times in the 100m hurdles and 200m, to raise her confidence levels ahead of Glasgow.
Goals and Ambitions
O'Dowda – whose brother, Callum, is a professional footballer – said: "I'm in a good place now and fingers crossed that keeps going and nothing happens. Obviously, I would love to be on the podium, but a goal of mine – and it's the same every year – is I just want to improve. I want to improve year on year, whether that's across all the individual events but also in the heptathlon itself. Hopefully an improvement with a score gets me on the podium, but my goal is to go out there and do the absolute best that I can do, and the score that comes with that will hopefully be enough to get some silverware."
Team England are Ready to Win at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Keep up to date on teamengland.org.
