'If I can help one or two athletes deliver their dream, it's a win'

When Eve Muirhead led the Great Britain women’s curlers to Winter Olympic gold in 2022, the Guardian hailed her as the “Iron Lady” because she appeared indestructible.

- Sean Ingle

It didn’t matter that she had failed initially to qualify for the Games. Or that she had Covid before the last-ditch tournament that finally secured their place. Or that Team GB’s women lost four of their opening eight matches in Beijing - and were 4-0 down against Sweden in the semifinals. Somehow she always found a way.

Behind the scenes, though, it was a very different story. As Muirhead has revealed in her new autobiography, Ice Queen, she had severe depression just seven months before the Olympics.

Indeed, her mental health was so bad that her psychologist would have signed her off work for half a year if she was in an office job.

“People think that I’m this kind of strong, steely-eyed competitor, which I am, yes,” Muirhead says. “But we're all human, aren’t we? There is obviously a big soft side of me as well, that needs help at times. I’m very passionate about speaking about my experiences. Because if I can just help one or two athletes deliver their dream, that’s a win.”

Which brings us neatly to the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, which begin in just 100 days, and where the 35-year-old Muirhead is excited to be Team GB’s chef de mission. “We’re in great shape,” she says. “Look at the recent results and how we won nine world championship medals in the last kind of winter season - the most we’ve ever had leading into a Games. As a nation, we are on the upward curve when it comes to winter sports, which is really exciting.”