Sean McCann, the younger brother of Madeleine McCann, has been selected to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. The 21-year-old will compete in freestyle disciplines as part of a 25-strong team named by Swim Scotland for the Games starting Thursday.
Swimming career and Olympic ambitions
Sean began competing at age eight and previously raced for Scotland at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago in 2023, in the 400m and 1500m freestyle. He revealed on the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust website that he started competitive sport at eight with Charnwood triathlon club, where he discovered his passion for swimming. He joined Loughborough Town swimming club to increase his swim sessions and at 10 was selected to swim at City of Leicester, going on to win multiple county titles and become regional and national champion in his age group.
“I train nine times a week in the pool, as well as three gym sessions, totalling over 20 hours of training per week. I’m aiming to compete at the 2026 Commonwealth Games and also the 2028 Olympics in LA,” he said.
Family background and ongoing case
Madeleine McCann was three when she disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007. Sean and his twin sister Amelie were two at the time. It is not known if parents Kate and Gerry McCann will attend the Games.
In May, Kate and Gerry criticised a Channel 5 true-crime drama about Madeleine’s disappearance, saying it was made without their consultation or consent. They stated they “had no involvement whatsoever” in the making of “Under Suspicion: Kate McCann” and raised concerns about the negative impact of such programmes on their family as they continue to grieve 19 years on.
German authorities identified Christian Brueckner as the prime suspect in 2022, but he has never been charged and denies involvement. In December, Gerry McCann told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the hope of finding Madeleine is “slim” but not “extinguished.” He said, “Madeleine’s been missing for 18 years, and the bottom line is, we still don’t know what’s happened to her. I’d love to find her alive, but we need to find out what happened and bring whoever’s responsible to justice.”
