And how. A swimmer of some repute during her teenage years, Gordon maintained that initially but found herself keen to try something else.
That something would be para-canoeing. “You’ve still got the the water element and, if you’ve got a disability, water gives somebody such a sense of freedom because it’s easier to move around on water than on land,” she says. “It just ticked the boxes.”
Soon, she was invited on to the British team, moved to Nottingham and has been there since, winning world medals and Paralympic silver in Paris in 2024.
Gordon even found time to dip into winter sports, going to the 2022 Winter Paralympics as a nordic skier after being cajoled into giving it a go by 2026 Games flagbearer Scott Meenagh.
Canoeing is her main sport, though, to the extent that she will be competing at a World Cup event and World Championships either side of the Commonwealths.
And it is her training for that that led Gordon to choose powerlifting as her means of fulfilling a life’s dream of being part of Team Scotland.
“Bench press is one of the key exercises for canoeing so when the programme was announced, I looked at the list and I thought that might be the one,” she explains.
“I had to unlearn quite a bit and learn it again but hopefully it will benefit me on the water too.”
Gordon is keen to temper medal expectations, insisting these Games are actually about something much bigger for her than podium places.
Having watched some of the swimmers she trained with win gold in 2014 – “I was in the crowd and able to to sing Flower of Scotland three times watching Hannah Miley, Ross Murdoch and Dan Wallace” – she has long wanted to represent Scotland.
“Commies has been such a big dream for me,” explains the aspiring bagpiper, sitting in her English home surrounded by Scottish memorabilia. “More so than what some people might argue are bigger goals, like a Paralympics.
“Glasgow is a city that holds a lot of memories for me, but not necessarily for the most positive of reasons. So, the thought of being able to make it more of a positive vibe for my family and friends is going to be a real full circle moment.”