Tom McNab was born in Glasgow in 1933. He held the Scottish national triple jump record for six years, and from 1966 to 1977 was a National Athletics Coach. In 1980 he became the first coach to have served on both summer and winter Olympic teams when he was appointed to coach the British Olympic bobsleigh team at Lake Placid. He worked as script consultant and technical advisor on the Oscar winning film, Chariots of Fire, and on Greystoke and on The First Olympics. In 1982 he was Scottish Novelist of the Year and in 1990 British Coach of the Year.