Curling: Jennifer Dodds hopes doubles title can spark Olympics bid

  • Published
Bruce Mouat and Jen DoddsImage source, WCF
Image caption,

Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds hope to be selected for Team GB at the Winter Olympics

Jennifer Dodds says her gold at the World Curling mixed doubles championships can help secure Olympic qualification for the women's team.

Dodds and Bruce Mouat defeated Norway in the final in Aberdeen to win Scotland's first ever world mixed doubles title.

It secured Great Britain's place in the event at the Olympics, something which Eve Muirhead's Scotland rink have yet to do for the women's section.

"This was the next step," Dodds said.

"I think it was a great experience and taking the confidence back into the women's game as well is going to be really important."

The pair are now in pole position for selection to represent Great Britain at the Beijing games next year in the mixed doubles event.

Dodds, 29, was part of the Scotland side which missed out on a top-six spot at the women's world championships in Canada earlier this month.

As a result, they need to play a qualification tournament at the end of the year to try to clinch a place at the Olympics.

"It is probably going to be a similar pressure to the worlds, you have got one shot left and we know we will have to perform in December to try and get that spot for Team GB," Dodds added.

Playing partner Mouat's place as the leader of the men's British team now depends on selection, but is almost assured after his rink won silver at last month's world championships in Calgary.

"I am going to take a lot of confidence from the two world championships that I have played both in Calgary and in Aberdeen into what will hopefully be two events at the Olympic games for me," the 26-year-old told BBC Scotland.

"You can ask any family member of mine, since I was probably about eight years old I have been telling them that I want to go to the Olympics, and that dream seems to finally be coming true."

Related Topics

Related Internet Links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.