By Lisa Gray, PA Sport

Scottish sprinter Ian Mackie insists the success of British athletes in Sydney will spur him on for the next two Olympics.

The 25-year-old was told he was dropped from the GB men's relay team while in Australia and, despite being furious at the time, he now believes he can use the experience in the future - starting with the World Championships.

Mackie, known as the 'Fife Flyer', enjoyed a stunning victory over America's gold medalist Maurice Greene earlier this year and insists his form will see him through the next two Olympics.

"Seeing what the rest of the team did was magnificent," said Mackie at Edinburgh Airport. "Especially certain individuals that had been injured and had come back from injury to take medals - I think that's excellent.

"For me, it just goes to show that you should never give up and I'm certainly not going to give up now just because I wasn't picked.

"There's the World Championships to be run in next year so I'm going to start focusing on that, but the main thing is that I still went to the Olympics which is a good achievement.

"There's definitely a feeling that I can come back even stronger. Mentally I'm a pretty strong person anyway so I really don't let these things get to me.

"Obviously it's disappointing but it happens and there's nothing you can do about it, so you've really just got to put it behind you.

"This is my second Olympics and major championships so I know what I'm doing and I know the set-up and I know how to prepare.

"My coach, John Macdonald, sorts me out really well so there's no problems there and I'll have two Olympics after this one."

Cyclist Craig MacLean contributed to Britain's medal haul when he claimed silver in the Olympic sprint - now he is hoping his win will raise the profile of the sport in Scotland.

MacLean, along with team-mates Chris Hoy and Jason Queally, also took silver in last year's World Championships and he admits the French were just too fast for the British side in Sydney.

He said: "The French just pulled it out on the day. The time that we did in the final would have won us the World Championships last year against the same team so they just keep moving the goalposts - but we're catching them up.

"But it certainly would have been a great achievement to come home with any medal. From the results that the team had in Atlanta, anything would have been a bonus really.

"The whole team just did really well and it's been incredible.

"The sport has the problem that it's not very accessible and it's not something that you can just get an ordinary bike and go and do - you have to be organised and find out where your local centre is.

"But hopefully this will attract a few more people."

There was disappointment for the British women's hockey team, who finished eighth after a hard competition.

The GB side faced host nation Australia as well as Argentina, the teams who took the top two medals.

Pauline Stott officially announced her retirement from the game on her return from Sydney but insisted she was delighted to pick up her 200th cap.

She said: "I was disappointed overall but we had a very tough draw. We played the Australians first and Argentina second in our pool matches and they went on to win gold and silver.

"We were very disappointed after those two games and really didn't recover too well after that.

"We were eighth overall after a very heavy programme and that wasn't what we were aiming for. We were aiming for medals - but doesn't everybody?

"I think the disappointment is that we didn't play to our potential to the degree that we had hoped for, but I'm not taking away from the fact that everybody worked so hard for it."

Stott was the first-ever Scot to captain the GB side and she hopes that will inspire more interest in the team in her native country.

She said: "It was fantastic and hopefully it will inspire some more Scots to keep trying for the British team because it is such a brilliant situation to be in.

"I couldn't have asked for anything better and I got my 200th cap when I was out there, so it's a happy retirement from now on."