Eve Muirhead spearheads Great Britain’s Winter Olympic curling medal hopes once more

Three medals at stake in the sport as Team GB head to Beijing

(Getty Images)

Curling guru David Murdoch warned Britain’s rivals not to underestimate Eve Muirhead’s powers of resilience as Team GB’s women gear up for next month’s Winter Olympic showdown.

British Curling and Olympic head coach Murdoch, part of the team who won silver at Sochi in 2014 alongside skip Muirhead, will lead the Stirling ace and her five-strong rink into Beijing battle in just over four weeks’ time.

Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jennifer Dodds, Hailey Duff and Mili Smith were crowned European champions in Lillehammer last month before surviving a white-knuckle ride in a Netherlands Olympic Qualifying Event to eventually book their seat on the plane.

Three-time World Championship medallist Muirhead, 31, did not qualify for the competition in 2018 and 2019 but Murdoch says she’s back firing on all cylinders as she aims for a second Olympic gong.

The 43-year-old, who is also a two-time world champion, said: “Because of Eve’s previous experience and what she’s achieved, everyone’s always had her on the radar.

“In the last couple of years, maybe it’s not been where she’s wanted it to be, but certainly not with the results we’ve seen recently.

“If you look at the results we had at the Europeans, we’ve beaten the Olympic champions and the world champions, which means we’re here to play now. We’re in a really good spot with that.

“There’s a huge amount of experience with Eve at the helm – she’s been there, done that, and has an Olympic medal.

“The girls in the team are super hungry for this – they’re super level-headed, have done the hard work and hard yards and are heading in the right direction.

“If we went back over the last few months and look at what they’ve achieved, they’re training in such a great direction and have had so many actual tournament wins now.

“I really like where we are at the moment – and hopefully we can deliver.” Team Muirhead represent five of over 1,000 athletes who are able to train full-time, access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering technology, science and medical support thanks to vital National Lottery funding.

The support helped fire them to European glory in Norway last month before Turkey’s nerve-shredding triumph over Japan in Holland – after the Scots had reeled off five wins on the spin – officially secured their place in the Chinese capital.

Team GB’s women will be joined by Bruce Mouat’s male rink at the Games next month, who were also crowned kings of Europe in Lillehammer by beating Sweden in the final.

Skip Bruce Mouat and Dodds will also compete in the mixed doubles event and coach Murdoch, whose 2014 bronze is one of 1,000-plus medals achieved by British athletes since the advent of National Lottery funding to elite sport in 1997, added: “It would be epic if we did come back with three medals.”

The fact that we do have three teams that are capable is important, and as head coach, something that has pleased me most is that we’ve got three teams that are not only there, but actually capable. “Whether it happens, we’ll see – there’s a lot of hours on the ice, pressure and stones to be played before that.

“It’s the Olympic Games – everyone has trained so hard and everyone is in great form.

“One small mistake and a couple of millimetres here or there can be the difference between winning or losing.

“We need to be on point, we need to be ready and we need to be ready for every game.”

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