How Golf Helped Eve Muirhead Win A Winter Olympic Curling Gold Medal

At the Winter Olympics in Beijing, the women's curling team of Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jennifer Dodds, Hailey Duff and Mili Smith secured Team GB's first gold medal with a crushing 10-3 victory over Japan.

Speaking after the win, Muirhead stated: "It's a dream come true," with the Skip, who won bronze in 2014, finally securing a gold medal at her fourth Olympics after returning from hip surgery.

But, did you know that the gold medal winner is actually a very keen golfer, previously making the final 16 in the British girls' championship. Not only is the 31-year-old a very good player, but she has also stated that golf has helped her curling!

"If you are playing around the green and you are trying to work out the speed of the greens and all of the contours, it's all the same when it comes to curling," says Muirhead. 

It isn't just Eve who plays golf though, with her brothers, Glen and Thomas, who also represent Team GB in curling, playing the game as well. However, the pair are nowhere near the standard of Eve, with her stating: "The boys, they just pretend they've got a bit of skill in golf, but all they do is stand up and try and hit it as hard as they can."

A member of the Perth and Kinross regional team, Muirhead is a previous winner of the Highland Open and even turned down a number of golfing scholarships in the United States.

"I knew I had the potential in curling to be at the top of the game," explains the Scot. "I knew a handful of golfers who made it to the top, to professional level, and that would have meant I'd have to move away and not curl at all. I can be the best in the world, I know that if I put in the work I'm hopefully going to get the rewards at the end of it. That's why you strive to keep going."

Despite the success on ice, Muirhead regards herself as a "fair weather golfer", admitting to "never getting the clubs out in winter." The 31-year-old Scot has also appeared at a number of pro-ams, such as the BMW PGA Championship and the Scottish Open, with her best round being a 68.