20 February 2022

Bruce Mouat vows to bounce back after having to settle for Olympic silver

20 February 2022

Bruce Mouat has vowed to bounce back from the heartbreak of having to settle for a silver medal and emulate Eve Muirhead’s march to the top of an Olympic podium.

Mouat was in the crowd at the Ice Cube to watch Muirhead’s women’s team brush aside Japan 10-3 to claim Great Britain’s first curling gold medal since Rhona Martin’s famous triumph in 2002.

Muirhead’s success came less than 24 hours after Mouat and team-mates Hammy McMillan, Grant Hardie and Bobby Lammie were brilliantly snuffed out by Swedish skip Niklas Edin in their own gold medal match.

Bruce Mouat admitted his defeat in the Olympic final still hurts (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Wire)

“That gold medal looked very good on them and now it’s down to hard work from the boys so that we can be the ones putting one on in four years’ time,” said Mouat.

“The loss yesterday is going to hurt for a while. The guys and I have got the same drive to get back in 2026 and fight hard for that gold medal.

“We came so close coming into an extra end with Niklas, but we’re going to give it our all. It’s been a dream of ours for a lifetime.”

Mouat, who missed out in a bronze medal play-off in the mixed doubles competition with Muirhead’s team-mate Jennifer Dodds earlier in the Games, paid tribute to the skip’s remarkable resilience.

Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds came close to a medal in the mixed doubles (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Wire)

The way Mouat’s men skated through to the semi-finals was in stark contrast to the struggles of Muirhead’s side, who relied on a stroke of fortune before finally finding their form in the last four.

“Eve has been a great ambassador for our sport for so long now,” added Mouat. “With the team that she’s got right now, what a resilient team that is.

“They’ve had to battle so hard over the last 12 months to get to this point and I’m over the moon for them. I managed to see Jen afterwards and I gave her the biggest hug ever. I can’t stop smiling for them.”

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