Scott McCarthy is no stranger to being honoured by Sport Yukon.

The former weightlifter has been recognized by the organization in the past for his skills as an athlete and a coach in the sport.

On Friday, McCarthy added to this list of honours when he received the highest tribute in the Sport Yukon awards: being inducted into their hall of fame.

'There is nothing else I could do to do top it,' he said. 'It is right up there with winning medals or winning the athlete of the year award, coach of the year award. This kind of just caps everything.'

McCarthy has been competing in the sport since the early 1980's and over the course of his distinguished career has won numerous medals at competitions such as the Commonwealth Games, the Western Canadian Championships and the Canada Winter Games.

His first national competition was in 1985 at the Canadian Junior National Championships, which was held in Montreal. McCarthy ended up winning a bronze medal at the event.

It wasn't until the mid 90s when he started to train really hard in the sport and in 1998 an experience as an alternate at the Commonwealth Games gave McCarthy a new goal when competing in weightlifting competitions. McCarthy said he promised himself that he would never be an alternate again and a drive that he has always had to do better would result in him training for another four years to compete in the next Commonwealth Games.

McCarthy's training paid off and at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, he won two bronze medals. His last competition was at the Western Canadian Championships, held in Whitehorse in 2003. McCarthy finished his career in the sport by winning the event.

He credits his older brother and first coach for getting him into the sport and said his fondest memory was winning the bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games.

McCarthy moved to Whitehorse in 1987 and said the induction is more meaningful because of the time he spent living in the community.

'Anybody will tell you once they've been here they can't leave, there is always going to be that Yukoner in them and it is just a beautiful place, the people are incredible,' he said. 'Especially for sport-wise, the support you get from this community is incredible. If I was in Montreal I would be just another number, but in the Yukon you're actually somebody.'

He said he still misses the sport.

'I miss the competitions and I miss the people that I was involved with for so many years, but there is always a point where you have to move on,' he said. 'My family gave up so much time for me to be able to do that that it was time for me to actually turn that around and spend more time with my kids and their sports.'

Since moving on from the sport, McCarthy has served time as the president of the Yukon Weighting Association and just last August he became co-owner of the Super A Foods in Riverdale.

McCarthy said he looks forward to continuing his new career with the store as well as supporting his kids in their interests and hobbies.