Mouat living the dream
BRUCE MOUAT is a self-confessed Olympic geek. For as long as he can remember, the 27-year-old has been something of a fanatic of all things Olympic Games, which makes the prospect of making his own Olympic debut, as well as a little bit of history, all the more thrilling.
Yesterday, the first GB athletes for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing were unveiled, with Mouat becoming the first British curler to compete at two events in the Olympic Games having had his selection for both the men’s and the mixed team confirmed.
Mouat may still be relatively young in curling circles but having spent over 20 years dreaming about becoming an Olympian, he admits he is struggling to express quite how it feels to be fulfilling a lifelong ambition.
“I’m a total Olympic geek
– I could go pretty far back being able to tell you where the Games were and who won medals, I’m really obsessed by it,” the Edinburgh native says.
“It’s starting to sink in that I’m going to an Olympic Games myself.
“I have a school jotter from when I was in Primary 6, so I was about 10 years old, where we had to write about our past, our present and our future and for my future, I said I was going to become an Olympian.
“This is something I’ve been striving towards for a long, long time so to finally know that it’s happening is very special and it’s hard to put into words quite how much joy I’m feeling right now.”
The Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Games may still be over three months away but already the pressure is beginning to mount on Mouat.
He will skip the men’s team, which also includes Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan, with Ross Whyte as alternate, and will partner Jen Dodds in the mixed doubles.
As current world silver medallists in the men’s event, and reigning world champions in the mixed doubles, Mouat has set the bar incredibly high despite the fact that Beijing will mark his Olympic debut, as it will for his five teammates.
However, he remains undaunted by his inexperience on the greatest stage of them all.
“Just because we’ve got the world title in the mixed and a world medal in the men’s obviously doesn’t mean we’ll automatically go on to be successful in the Olympics, it’s not that straightforward. But what we have shown, in the men’s particularly, is that even when we go to big events for the first time, we can do well,” he says.
“And in the mixed, we’re a newer team but I’ve known Jen for 20 years and we’re good friends so we’re able to have the difficult conversations on the ice that you need to have when you’re in tough spots.
“So I think we’ll be prepared.”
Few athletes get anywhere near the podium on their first visit to an Olympic Games but Mouat is adamant he will not be satisfied with merely becoming an Olympian come February.
His rink’s recent successes on the global stage, including skipping the men’s team to an unprecedented double when they claimed back-to-back Grand Slam titles in Canada earlier this year, means he will head to Beijing with his sights firmly set on silverware.
“I’ve been dreaming about being on the Olympic podium for a long time, although I’ve not actually thought too much about it now it’s a realistic prospect,” he says.
“We’re going there to medal, none of us think we’re going there just to make up the numbers and the past successes we’ve had at international level have given us that confidence in ourselves.
“When we’re playing our best, we’re very tough to beat.”