Winter Olympics: Eve Muirhead's journey from career-threatening hip surgery to gold in Beijing
- Published
Highlights: Team GB win women's curling gold
Eve Muirhead travelled to Beijing for her fourth Winter Olympics with unfinished business.
"The one medal I am missing is the Olympic gold," she said before flying to China. "It's a dream of mine. I know it's going to be tough, but I know we are capable of doing it."
And how. Muirhead and her rink claimed that elusive medal in unforgettable style. Having scraped through the round-robin stages, then guaranteeing at least silver with an epic semi-final extra-end win over reigning champions Sweden, they thrashed Japan in the final.
For this Games, the 31-year-old has a new hip and a fresh team after a testing four years. Since narrowly missing out on a medal in Pyeongchang four years ago, Muirhead finally had surgery on her ailing hip.
She then battled back to fitness in her garage during lockdown but struggled for consistency, eventually securing Team GB their Olympic spot at the last minute, after leading her rink through a tense qualifier.
And it all proved worth it with GB's only gold of the Games.
'Light at the end of the tunnel'
The prospect of a gold medal seemed miles away when Muirhead lay stiff in her hospital bed after surgery in 2018.
The injury had been gnawing away at her for years and the end of another Olympic cycle finally provided the chance to fix it. However, there was always the concern she would never quite be the same.
"It certainly did go through my head that I didn't know if I could curl again, or if I would be as good again," she told BBC Scotland before leaving for China.
"It's quite scary when you're lying in your hospital bed and your competitors are practising, getting better, winning tournaments, and you feel like you're falling away from them."
But back Muirhead came. After getting back on her feet she got back on the ice, before the pandemic struck and wiped out the sporting calendar.
As tough as it was to be stuck at home, she improvised and made the most of it. She hit the gym - in her garage - and got to work strengthening her hip. "In a way it was a bit of a blessing in disguise," she said.
However, the transition back to the ice wasn't smooth. When the curling calendar resumed Muirhead and her team were soon thrust into the 2021 World Championship bubble in Calgary, Canada.
The joyless situation away from competing - isolating in hotel rooms with no social interactions - will be a valuable experience with these Olympics in mind, but the Scottish rink suffered.
'Don't go to bed!' - Muirhead scores superb four to give Team GB six-point lead
They failed to secure Britain's spot at the Beijing Games and were forced into a squad selection process. Suddenly Muirhead's hopes of a fourth Olympics were in jeopardy.
The group of Muirhead, Jen Dodds, Vicky Wright, Hailey Duff and Mili Smith emerged and were tasked with representing Scotland at the European Championships in Norway, before taking part in the Olympic qualifying tournament in the Netherlands. It was last chance saloon.
But not only did they sweep to the European title - Muirhead's third - they recovered from two early defeats to win five on the spin in the qualifier and seal a place in Beijing.
"It made us realise we had to prove ourselves individually and as a squad as well," the skip said of the selection process.
"Winning the Europeans this year was very special. A title that I wasn't sure I would ever win again. You do question if you're ever going to be on the podium again after a lot of downs.
"But it was a lot of great reassurance that the hard work we'd put in as a team, the hours we'd put in practising and training in the gym - there was light of the end of the tunnel."
'I'd still play the same shot'
Eve Muirhead began the Beijing Olympics as a Team GB flagbearer at the opening ceremony
Of the newly-assembled team, Muirhead is the only one to have been to a Games before, and personally has mixed memories.
In Vancouver in 2010 she became the youngest ever Olympic skip at just 19, but the team failed to make the play-offs, and the most vivid moment was her breaking her broom after hitting it off the ice in a match against Denmark.
Four years later in Sochi - and in the same 12 months in which she became world champion - came the bronze medal when Muirhead's final stone clinched a 6-5 win over Switzerland.
In Pyeongchang in 2018 it was a different story as her risky shot for victory went wrong, handing Japan the bronze medal, when there as an easier option to force an extra end.
"You always remember the misses and never really praise yourself for the good shots," Muirhead admitted. "I'd definitely say that shot plays over in my head more than the shot to win a medal, which is wrong. I'll try and change that but it's difficult.
"I definitely wouldn't change anything I did. I still think today I would play the same shot."
Given the near miss last time and the often difficult journey to make it to a fourth Olympics, Muirhead could be forgiven for getting carried away at having secured that elusive gold.
She began the Games by carrying the flag for Team GB, and has ended it on a high too.