CLONE OF DESTINY
From moment I watched Rhona’s Salt Lake City gold, that is what I wanted to do.. I want to replicate that
Two decades have passed since the Stone of Destiny – but Eve Muirhead’s desire for a sequel hasn’t thawed.
She remembers in vivid colour how Rhona Martin – now known by her maiden name of Howie – sent that stone on its way and, with it, the country crazy for curling.
Cool as ice in Salt Lake City as a golden moment sti l l treasured today unfolded.
It’s the blueprint a then teenage Muirhead was inspired by and one she intends to follow in Great Britain’s tilt at glory when the women’s curling gets going this week in Beijing.
The Scot, who carried the flag along with Dave Ryding in Friday’s opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics, said: “She played to win.
“From the moment I watched it, that is what I wanted to do.
“I want to replicate that. I want to win that gold medal.”
It will not be easy to upgrade her bronze from Sochi 2014 in this, her fourth crack at the
Games. Survive the group stage, which begins on Thursday with a duel against medal rivals Switzerland, then chase a brush with glory in a fortnight’s time is the plan of attack.
And Muirhead has history on her side, from early lessons off her former world champion dad Gordon to insights gained from nights of magic and moments of despair.
She said: “I guess it’s a passion playing and hopefully winning.
“But I’m such a competitor that every time I lose, I always want to know why I lost or how
I lost. And that’s where I’ve always learned the most.
“You always think of the bad shots, don’t you? But you never praise yourself for the wins, or you never remember the good shots you made.
“Over my career I know I’ve lost a lot more games than won but I always want to do better.
“I want to go back and prove I can beat the team we lost to or that I can win that competition where we lost in the final.”
Coming off second best to Sweden in the semis in 2018 – and then to Japan in the bronze play-off – sent Muirhead back to the drawing board. She added: “Fourth is not a place you want to finish and it was very tough for several months, even a year after that.”
But even with four f irsttimers on board, her squad are primed for the heat of battle in Beijing’s Ice Cube, loaded up with tech gizmos funded by the Lottery and analysts feeding intel into their phones.
It all came together when bagging a spot in China via the last-chance qualifying saloon, while Euro gold in November provided the perfect tune-up.
She said: “We’ve been put through quite the process to even get a spot on the team.
“But I do also believe, in a way, it was a bit of a blessing we had the qualifier. We had extra cocompetition closer to ththe Games, which a lot oof teams haven’t had.
“Being put under the prpressure to perform indindividually and as a team
as well has def initely helhelped us. And by winning the Europeans we have proproven we can beat every teateam in the world.”