“Dancing in front of the Strictly audience would give me the complete fear. I’d rather eat those disgusting things on I’m A Celeb.”
When the subject of her upcoming chapter in life is brought up, Eve Muirhead sits contently. For someone whose whole life has been ruled by regularity, the 32-year-old finds that peering into the future is remarkably comfortable.
Since ending her curling career in August, the Scot has led a busy life, commentating on golf and both sports, playing bagpipes at gala dinners, preparing with Steve Cram for the London Marathon, and even finishing third in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year competition this year. Additionally, discussions regarding hurling some stones onto a frozen loch at Balmoral have been held with the next King.
For Muirhead, who retired at the height of her sport by adding an Olympic gold to her current world mixed doubles and European titles, it will always be a watershed year. One emotional event in Beijing saw the fulfilment of a lifelong obsession.
But thinking back to December of last year, things may have been very different for the Team GB skip who needed to be persuaded to skate again.
Every four years, a nation has gathered to see Muirhead and her rink try to win gold ever since they won bronze at the Sochi Games. It appeared inevitable given that she served as the face of British curling for the majority of her career.
That ideal, however, was about as far away as it had ever been as 2021 came to a conclusion. Team Muirhead was faced with the possibility of having to compete in qualifying merely to board a flight to China after a disappointing showing at the World Championships.
She had had enough.
“After the Worlds, being honest, I wanted to stop, I wanted to quit,” Muirhead told BBC Scotland.
“It was very, very difficult. I would have quite happily probably never curled again or retired right then. But you give yourself a shake, you get the help you need, you speak to the right people and you think you’ve still got a chance of getting to your fourth Winter Olympic Games.
“I knew we had one last chance at the Olympic qualifying event, when three teams out of 10 got the last three spots. That seemed distant to me. It was a long way away and it seemed like something I didn’t want to put myself through. I found it hard enough getting over the World Championships let alone going and curling again.
“But I managed to pull myself round after getting quite a lot of help. I wasn’t well, but I was well enough to go back to ice. I went back, knuckled down and focused on myself.
“I managed to prove that I was good enough to go to that event with another four girls, a different team, to the Worlds and we won the event, followed by winning the Europeans, then the rest is history.”
Muirhead and her rink boarded the aircraft for Beijing without the kind of anticipation that could have been packed if there had been a less-turbulent takeoff. The Scot mentions having “no bullseye on our backs” and having hope that “something extraordinary” would happen.
And it was demonstrated as the Scot defeated Japan 10-3 with the help of Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds, and Hailey Duff. Muirhead scored a superb four in the seventh end to all but clinch the victory and a decisive victory.
“I’d never really thought about it as an obsession, but it probably was,” said Muirhead, who underwent hip surgery to make her fourth Games.
“You get that taste of medal success and, once you get the bronze, you just want that gold. You see others getting them.”
Winning Olympic gold is something every athlete lies in bed at night visualising. The moment of victory, the national anthem, the wild party afterwards. But what do you do when you clinch it at a Games with heavy duty Covid restrictions?
“I remember getting back from Beijing and I honestly reckon I had about six hours sleep in four nights,” she recalled. “I was exhausted.
“I was about 10 steps from my own bed, I couldn’t wait, and then my whole street put on a party, which was amazing. To get recognition like that from people you don’t really know but they obviously know who you are.”
Life-changing decisions, marathons & the future
“To be honest, I never once thought about finishing post Beijing,” she explained. “It was hard enough getting myself to Beijing for my fourth Winter Olympic Games. It never really crossed my mind ‘When am I going to finish?’ or put a time limit on this.
“The weeks and months passed and, as the curling season came closer, one day I woke up and thought ‘you know what, I just can’t anymore’. The thought of getting up and throwing more stones and putting in the same amount of time as I’ve always done – I’d never do anything half hearted.
“For me, that morning I just decided ‘this is it. I’ve decided to hang up my shoes now’.
“I spoke to my family and the people very close to me for a second opinion. Was I being stupid stepping away from sport when I’m the current Olympic, World and European champion? I didn’t really know.
“To hear and get it confirmed that this is possibly the best time with the support, it really helped.”
Muirhead had previously discussed the possibility of an impending post-gold downturn, but there are currently few indications that things are slowing down. She wants it that way, after all.
While taking on various tasks in the media is providing an opportunity to try something fresh, she received her MBE and OBE from then Prince Charles in the summer.
“He [King Charles] does speak a lot about curling to be honest. I met him a few weeks ago at a reception at Buckingham Palace with the Tokyo Olympic medallists and the Beijing Winter Olympics medallists and he loves to talk about curling and Balmoral on the frozen lochs. He was asking if I’ve ever curled outside,” said Muirhead, who also confessed a stint on Dancing On Ice doesn’t beckon as she can’t skate.
“I definitely haven’t had a slump and I think it will take a few years to fully transition from being a full-time elite athlete.
“I love to keep active. I’m actually in the London Marathon in April, so that is something I can build towards, it’s a goal to set myself. I’ve got Steve Cram writing my training programme. People think I’m crazy, but I need something to build towards.
“Right now, I’m just enjoying life. Since I’ve been an athlete since a kid, all I’ve experienced is school and being a full-time curler. Now honestly I feel a little bit more free. There is a life out there, there’s a world out there and right now I’m exploring it.”
