THRILLING EVE Muirhead won Team GB’s first and only gold medal of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as they swept to curling glory.
On the day before the 20-year anniversary of Rhona Martin’s famous heroics at Salt Lake City, Team Muirhead wrote their own name into the sporting record books.
The all-Scottish quartet of Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jennifer Dodds and Hailey Duff were in dominant form as they crushed Japan 10-3 at the Beijing Ice Cube.
When it was over, the tears flowed and the team celebrated wildly in a group hug.
Victory with one end left to spare was revenge for the bronze medal defeat to the Japanese four years ago in PyeongChang, a result that had some questioning Muirhead’s position at the helm.
Selected as the Olympic skip in 2009 at the age of just 19, Muirhead has finally fulfilled her own destiny on the ice and underlined her status as one of Britain’s most successful sportswomen.
Yet the journey to and during her fourth Olympic campaign has been fraught with tension, nerves and last-minute drama.
Until this finale, nothing they had done had been straightforward or routine.
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The team almost never made it to the Far East in the first place, enduring a topsy-turvy time in Holland as they qualified a precious quota place the week before Christmas.
In the round-robin stage, just when they were on the brink of elimination, they had to win their do-or-die final game against Russia.
They only managed to qualify for the semis thanks to results elsewhere and by a margin of 10cm in the Draw Shot Challenge.
Even in the knockout stage, their nail-biting tie with Sweden required an extra end before they could progress to this finale.
Yet memories of beating Japan 10-4 only five days previously – their biggest win of the past two weeks – gave them enormous confidence that gold was obtainable.
A two in the opening end was a brilliant beginning, certainly much better than the four they had conceded straightaway against Sweden in Friday’s final-four clash.
Though they failed to grab a two with the hammer in the fourth end, Muirhead took advantage of a mistake from the Japanese skip Satsuki Fujisawa to steal one in the fifth.
With IOC president Thomas Bach watching from the expensive seats, Muirhead was in control thanks to the three-point lead at the halfway stage.
The pivotal moment of this contest was the four scored in the seventh end when Muirhead’s fine stone wiped away the red stone of the Japanese and essentially rubber-stamped the victory.
Japan refused to concede after eight ends but realised the game was up when Muirhead gained a two in the penultimate end.
After watching skiers crash, speed skaters fall over and bobsleighs topple on their side, Team GB can fly home tomorrow with one gold and one silver (in men’s curling) as reward for more than £20 million of investment.
