Eve Muirhead: A profile of a curling superstar

Heading to her second Olympics in Sochi in 2014, Muirhead tasted the disappointment of semi-final defeat but rallied to beat Switzerland and set another record as the youngest skip to win an Olympic medal.

But there was disappointment four years later in Japan when Muirhead’s highly fancied rink had to settle for another bronze medal play-off – and this time her nerve failed her as she missed a relatively simple shot to win the match.

Muirhead subsequently admitted that miss had remained fresh in her memory during her increasing struggles to qualify for Beijing.

A fresh start for Beijing

Having separated from her long-standing team, including sidekick Anna Sloan, Muirhead faced a rigorous and somewhat unconventional qualifying procedure in which a group of nine hopefuls were whittled to an eventual five.

She remained at the head of a relatively inexperienced rink that duly arrived in Beijing with arguably fewer expectations than those that had accompanied her to each of the previous two Olympics.

Muirhead struggled to find her best form in Beijing, and required an extraordinary reprieve to nudge through the round-robin phase despite a distinctly underwhelming 5-4 record.

She overcame further adversity in her semi-final after a horribly under-hit draw attempt handed Sweden a four in the first end of their last-four clash and gave her what coach David Murdoch described as a less-than-10-per-cent chance of victory.

Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jennifer Dodds and Hailey Duff, you are OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS! 🥇🇬🇧

What a performance! 👏

📺📱 Watch LIVE on @BBCOne & @BBCiPlayer. https://t.co/R62HpJZhBC #Beijing2022 #BBCOlympics #Curling pic.twitter.com/dG7RAmzeWP

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) February 20, 2022

But drawing on years of experience, going back to being saddled with early expectation and surviving countless cutthroat junior days, Muirhead rallied and would barely put another foot wrong.

On the most pressurised stage of all, Muirhead delivered, her brilliant raised takeout in the seventh end effectively completing her journey from a promising junior to Olympic champion.

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