- UK Sport Investment 2010-14 (Sochi) - £2,055,100
- UK Sport Investment 2006-10 (Vancouver) - £1,100,000
- Number of Podium Funded Athletes - 9: Eve Muirhead*, Anna Sloan*, Claire Hamilton*, Vicki Adams*, David Murdoch*, Tom Brewster*, Scott Andrews*, Michael Goodfellow*, Greg Drummond*
- Number of Podium Potential Funded Athletes - 4: Lauren Gray*, Alice Spence, Jennifer Dodds, Hannah Fleming
- Sochi Performance Target - 1-2 Medals
*selected for Sochi 2014
The Sochi Journey
GB’s curlers head to Sochi with their highest hopes of a medal since Rhona Martin – now Rhona Howie - and her team won gold in Salt Lake City in 2002. After the men’s team narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in Turin in 2006, neither team reached the semi-finals in Vancouver four years later.
However, with huge potential in the current squads, UK Sport doubled the sport’s funding, which is also supported by sportscotland, for the Sochi cycle, and both the women’s and men’s teams will be confident going into the Games.
Their preparations for the Olympics have been excellent. At the 2013 Men’s World Championships in Victoria, David Murdoch’s team lost out to host nation Canada in the semi-finals before defeating Denmark to win the bronze medal. However, it was Eve Muirhead and her team that stole the limelight in 2013 with gold at the Women’s World Championships in Riga. After winning 10 of their 11 round robin games, they defeated Canada in the semi-finals before taking the title against Sweden.
"It is a dream come true and a great honour to be selected to be part of Team GB and compete in my first Games in Sochi. The best part of being in a team is that you are with athletes that are all striving towards the same goal. We spend nearly every day together so it is great to share this experience with them. Both the sportscotland Institute of Sport and the National Lottery have been a major factor in my curling career so far and provided me with the means to train to my full potential." Scott Andrews
The women’s team will be guided at the Games by gold medal winning skip of the 2002 Olympic team, head coach Rhona Howie, who is a graduate of UK Sport’s Elite Coach Programme.
This year has begun strongly, although Sweden got their revenge on Britain’s women at the 2014 European Championships in Norway, beating them in the final. At the same competition the men beat the Danes once again to win another bronze medal.
Eight of the ten GB curlers will be making their first appearances at the Olympic Games. Only Murdoch, who has competed in Turin and Vancouver, and Muirhead, who made her debut four years ago, has competed at a previous Games. Murdoch and Muirhead have benefitted from UK Sport funding since 2006 and 2008 respectively, and will be the most experienced members of the squad.