The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Sibling rivalry steering Muirheads to conquest
Curling: Olympic ambition realised after Team GB selections
Eve Muirhead is relishing the prospect of an extra-special third Winter Olympics after being joined by brothers Thomas and Glen in the Great Britain curling squad for next year’s Winter Games in Pyeongchang in South Korea.
Muirhead’s team bounced back from a semi-final loss to Canada to claim a bronze medal in Sochi in 2014, but she joked her relatively extensive experience – which began in Vancouver four years earlier – is likely to be ignored.
Muirhead, from Blair Atholl, said: “I’ll offer them plenty of advice but I guarantee they won’t take it because I’m their sister. But seriously I think it makes it extraspecial that I will be able to compete alongside my two siblings at an Olympic Games.”
The 27-year-old Muirhead will go to the Games as a major medal contender after claiming another podium place at this year’s world championships.
The men’s team skipped by Kyle Smith were selected ahead of the claims of Sochi silver medallist David Murdoch and Aberdonian Tom Brewster’s rink.
With an average age of 24, the four men’s starters will be by the far the youngest team in the competition and Thomas Muirhead conceded they will seek to draw on the experiences of his sister, who made her debut when still a teenager in Vancouver.
Thomas, who shares a sheep farm with his brother in Blair Atholl, said: “Eve has been there and done it and she knows exactly what the story is in terms of competition at an Olympic Games, so she will bring a huge amount to the table to help Glen and I and the rest of the rink.
“I’ve watched Eve win four world junior titles and seeing her on the stage winning all those medals has definitely driven me to want to achieve the same, if not better.
“It’s good to have that in the family because it really gives you something to aim for.”
Eve Muirhead has experienced a tumultuous Olympic career to date, having exited Vancouver in 2010 having won just three of nine round-robin games, then bouncing back from the disappointment of missing out on a place in the Olympic final in Sochi to claim a bronze which time has taught her to covet.
She said: “I think it was a fantastic achievement to win a bronze medal in Sochi and I’m very proud of it. Obviously losing to Canada in the semi-finals was devastating – one of the hardest losses of my career – but it showed our character to bounce back 20 hours later.
“Vancouver was also devastating because we had gone there and despite being so young we expected to win a medal. But looking back now I think we needed to learn to lose before we could win.
“It was really the blessing in disguise I needed to know I had to step up a lot of different aspects if I wanted to come back to reach that podium, and that’s what I did for Sochi.
“Now the competition is getting harder and there is no way we can afford to take our foot off the gas.”