Eve Muirhead banishes nagging memory as Team GB go for curling gold in Beijing

“It was a moment I wanted to forget but it's been in my head since then,” said Team GB’s curling skip Eve Muirhead.

The moment in question was when Muirhead missed her shot to win the bronze medal at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

Muirhead has already put that memory to bed at Beijing 2022. Along with team-mates Jennifer Dodds, Vicky Wright, and Hailey Duff, Great Britain have qualified for the women’s curling gold medal game.

GB will again face Japan, their opponents in that bronze-medal match to forget from four years ago. But Muirhead is not viewing that as any kind of omen.

“This is very pleasing that I've got a chance to play for a gold medal now and not a bronze medal.

“It's against the same girls. We love the Japanese girls. They're so much fun and we get on so well with them. They just love curling and that's fantastic for the sport."

The pressure will perhaps be more from personal desire.

“I've got almost every gold medal apart from the Olympic gold medal,” said Muirhead.

“It's always been a dream of mine.”

Muirhead’s path to the Olympic curling final hasn’t been smooth skating.

The team failed to qualify automatically at the World Championships and were obliged to tackle the Olympic qualifying tournament. But Muirhead has called that a “blessing in disguise’, which allowed the team to hone its form.

“Of course there have been times when you doubt whether you'll be back and get that chance to play for that gold.

"As a team we've come from different teams, not even qualifying for the spot [at the World Championships].

“You get home and sometimes you want to throw your shoes in the cupboard and carry on doing something else, but we learned a lot from that.

"We stood up tall. We fought for our spots here. We showed we've got so much talent as a team. We've got so much drive and fight. It's an absolute dream come true. I'm pretty speechless to be honest."

Team GB have had to bring that drive with them to Beijing. They lost four round-robin matches. And Muirhead initially seemed to be heading for a second successive Olympic semi-final defeat.

"We got off to a very slow start,” she said after the semi-final.

“To give up a four in the first end against a team like Sweden, it's a very slim chance you are coming back from that.

"We had a good chat, said we had nothing to lose and just tried to put some pressure on them and make the game nip and tuck."

"I haven't said once we haven't played well, but our four losses were just down to the smallest errors.

“We got a bit of luck [in the semi-final] but there was a lot of good play from us that forced them to make mistakes. We stuck in there until the last stone of the last end.

"The strength of the field here is incredible. I remember looking at the draw and you couldn't tick anyone off. It was scary.”

But one of the teams Great Britain did tick off in the round-robin stage was Japan, with a 10-4 scoreline that should boost their confidence ahead of the final.

They’ll need shake off any cobwebs early on, with the match scheduled for 09:05 local time on Sunday 20 February. That doesn’t trouble Muirhead.

"We’ve had two games at nine o'clock. If I had to get up at two in the morning to play an Olympic final I’d be there at one in the morning."

The timing will be more of a challenge for British fans watching at home, who will need to stay up – or get up – for almost exactly that time, with the final starting at 01:05 GMT on Sunday 20 February.

"I'm buzzing to know people are going to be up watching us. That gives us an extra boost to make everyone proud back in Britain,” said Muirhead.

Muirhead was in that position herself when Rhona Howie (then Rhona Martin) won gold at Salt Lake City 2002, in an epic encounter documented in the Olympic Channel feature "A Brilliant Curling Story."

“I remember 20 years ago staying up to watch Rhona win that medal. You dream of doing the same and I know the other girls here did exactly that.

“Let's hope we have the whole of Britain behind us, and Monday morning I think we head back to Britain. I can't wait to get back to see friends and family."

Muirhead is already guaranteed her best Olympic finish, after that fourth place in PyeongChang and a bronze medal at Sochi 2014.

Now Great Britain has a chance at winning more than one gold for the first time at an Olympic Winter Games, as the men’s curling team skippered by Bruce Mouat plays in the men’s gold medal match on Saturday 19 February at 14:50 local time (06:50 GMT on Saturday 19 February).

Keep up with all the action in our Live Blog updates throughout Beijing 2022, here.