AUGUST 13 - SCOTLAND'S most successful Olympic female athlete, Shirley Robertson (pictured), has risked upsetting her countrymen and women by claiming that they should put aside their reservations and take part in a united football team at the 2012 Games.

 

Robertson, a two-time Olympic sailing gold medallist, has waded into a row that is threatening to overshadow the build-up to the London Olympics.

 

Sebastian Coe and Colin Moynihan, the chairmans of London 2012 and the British Olympic Association respecitvely, and Brian Barwick, the chief executive of the Football Association, have all promised that Britain will enter teams in the men and women's football tournaments.

 

But the Scottish and Welsh FA's have both insisted that they will not co-operate because they fear it could jeopardise their independence in events like the World Cup and European Championships.

 

But Robertson, an ambassador for London's successful bid to host the Olympics, has urged Scotland to get involved.

 

Robertson, who failed to qualify for this year's Olympics and is working for the BBC at the sailing venue in Qingdao, said: "It has been a mess that hasn't gone away.

 

"But we are a major football nation and we will actually have a match at Hampden Park, which will be the only part of the 2012 Olympics to take place in Scotland.

"So I definitely think we should have a Great British team picked from all our constituent countries."