Should Scot Archie Goodburn win a medal at this summer’s home Commonwealth Games, the roar from the pool will carry all the way from Glasgow to Edinburgh – and for good reason.
At just 25, the 2023 British 50-metre breaststroke champion is near his physical peak and earlier this year lowered his own Scottish record over the distance.
But two years ago, while attempting to qualify for Team GB ahead of the Paris Olympics, he discovered he had a rare and incurable form of brain cancer, news which he admits turned his world upside down.
“So in 2024, I was diagnosed with an incurable form of brain cancer, which is effectively terminal when you're diagnosed at my age,” he said.
“I was training to try and compete for Team GB at the upcoming Olympics in 2024. But unfortunately, I think due to the symptoms I was experiencing up until that point, missed the team by just a few tenths of a second and after the trials then chased a private diagnosis, and since then my world's been turned upside down.
“You only have two ways to go. Either you give in or you do fight back, and you're kind of pushed into a corner, and I think obviously the swimming has helped me prepare, but I actually think what I've been going through with the cancer is far tougher.”
Since his diagnosis, Goodburn has not only maintained his excellence in the pool but also with his studies and next week he will graduate with an Integrated Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh, where he has this year been inducted into the sport Hall of Fame.
“I didn't think I was ever going to make it at some point,” he added. “I wish more people without having had that experience could realise what they're capable of, because this has kind of taught me to push through those hard times because there are moments that are golden.”
It is also since his diagnosis that Goodburn has also taken up golf, which is what brought him to The Renaissance Club on Wednesday along with the King’s Baton Relay for the upcoming Games.
He played alongside fellow Scottish sporting royalty in the form of curler Bruce Mouat and former national rugby union captain Greig Laidlaw, with a little help from DP World Tour stars Grant Forrest and Harry Hall.
Another passion developed since his diagnosis is raising funds and awareness of brain cancer, which is the biggest killer among cancers for people under 40, and remearkably during the pro-am those two things came together.
“Speaking to our scorer, a family friend was diagnosed just nine months ago with the same type of brain cancer and is now on one of the drugs that we campaigned for, and a drug that was actually initially rejected,” he said.
Sport is a good teacher about overcoming adversity and overcoming the lows to reach the highs and it brings people together because of that
“So to have that approval overturned and then see someone now on that drug was a pretty insane full circle moment, really. And the chances of that are pretty small. I have a very rare subtype, like we said, but to see it in person and hear that that patient's doing well was... I'm getting a bit teary now actually, because it's pretty huge for me.”
As an academic, a campaigner and a golfer as well, it is a remarkable feat that sees Goodburn not only continue to compete in the pool but do so at an elite level.
But he believes if anything, his diagnosis has inspired him to go further, and he is hopeful that others can take inspiration from his incredible journey.
“We've been working hard and that kind of culminated a few weeks ago in Parliament for a debate which we raised 100,000 signatures for,” he said.
“We need more of this in this space so that young people like me can keep chasing their dreams and keep looking towards a future that they dream in and they believe in and contribute to society as well.
“One of the really important things for me since diagnosis was trying to see if I could better myself. And having done that in February, rebreaking my own Scottish record, and fortunately qualifying for the Games this summer, I'm feeling like I'm in a really fortunate spot, but it's taken a lot and taken me to places I didn't know that I kind of had deep down inside me.
“I want to come home with some silverware from the Commonwealth Games. I've represented Great Britain at the World Championships, the European Championships, won a medal at the European Championships, but putting on that Scottish cap, we only get the opportunity to do that at the Commonwealth Games.
“I'm really looking forward to hearing the Scottish roar because I think we support our athletes like no one else. That extra drive that comes from the crowd just to get that extra couple hundredths of a second could be the difference between a medal and not a medal.
“Sport is a good teacher about overcoming adversity and overcoming the lows to reach the highs and it brings people together because of that.
“I was 22 when diagnosed and had my sights on the Olympic team. I was doing everything I could for my health at that point and to be told you've got what is effectively terminal brain cancer was a huge shock to the system.
“I think sport really can shine a light quite powerfully on these things.”
If you want to help Archie raise awareness and funds in the battle against brain cancer, you can get involved and donate below:
AstroBrain tumour fund - https://www.astrofund.org.uk/about-us/
Brain cancer justice - https://www.braincancerjustice.org
Brain Tumour Research - https://braintumourresearch.org/
