British Curling: New coach Greg Drummond undaunted by previous success
- Published
Greg Drummond (left) was part of the GB team led by predecessor David Murdoch (centre) to 2014 Olympic silver
British Curling's new Olympic head coach, Greg Drummond, is undaunted by trying to build on recent glories and views "success as an opportunity to be more successful".
He replaces fellow Scot David Murdoch, who left this year to become Curling Canada's high performance director.
Eve Muirhead's rink are current Olympic champions, while Bruce Mouat's Scots won last month's world championship.
"The target, it goes without saying, is Olympic success," Drummond said.
"From the outside looking in, the big challenge is that continuation of success. If I was coming in to this role off a period of no success, there would be an argument that I would have an easier job, but I don't look at it that way.
"I am very clear - I can't try and be a carbon copy of my predecessor. I come to this role with new ideas and new visions about how we shape the future. That will undoubtedly provide me with challenges on a daily basis, as to how we roll these out."
Drummond is himself an Olympic and world silver medallist and guided two separate teams to gold medals at the World Mixed Doubles Championships in 2021 and 2022 as a performance coach, but he takes over at a time of "transition with some of our athletes".
The 34-year-old's wife, Vicky, and skip Muirhead were among a trio of the Olympic-winning rink to retire following their Beijing success.
"I think the results we have achieved over the last three, four years, it is testament to all the work our athletes do, our coaches do, our practitioners do," Drummond added.
"I have been a big part of that, so I think the starting point for me in this role is a good one. We have got a really strong foundation.
"And we have got a lot more development opportunities than maybe we have had in the past. I see that as a positive opportunity and a chance for me to have an impact on the curlers within our programme."