EVE MUIRHEAD RETURNS TO CURLING AFTER FOUR-YEAR RETIREMENT

Eve Muirhead, Olympic gold medallist, has reversed her retirement from curling after four years away from competition. The British curler announced her return on 6 August, saying she has "unfinished business" in mixed doubles. Muirhead will partner Bobby Lammie, a two-time Olympic silver medallist, with the pair targeting the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps. The two won the World Mixed Doubles Championship together in 2022, though neither has competed in Olympic mixed doubles.

Muirhead stepped away from curling following Team GB's gold medal victory at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, which ended a 20-year drought for Britain in women's Olympic curling. In her autobiography Ice Queen, she revealed she had been diagnosed with severe depression before the Beijing Games and credited antidepressants and support from her family, British Curling's medical staff and a clinical psychologist with her recovery. One report stated she served as Team GB's chef de mission at the Milan-Cortina Games in February, which she said brought back emotions she had not felt for a long time and prompted reflection on whether she still had "something to give on the ice".

Muirhead, a four-time Olympian, described her return as coming from "a very different place", stating she feels "refreshed, physically strong and excited by the challenge". Fellow gold medal-winner Vicky Drummond, an intensive care nurse, is also returning to compete in the GB Curling mixed doubles programme, partnering Euan Kyle with a view to reaching the 2030 Games. Drummond said she wants to demonstrate to her daughter that "becoming a mum doesn't mean your ambitions have to end".