Eve Muirhead thought she was done with competitive curling.
Muirhead went out on top when she stepped back from the sport in 2022 after skipping Great Britain to Olympic gold in women’s curling and winning the world mixed doubles title with Bobby Lammie.
The 36-year-old Muirhead announced Thursday she’s coming out of retirement to play mixed doubles again with Lammie and explained her decision to return on The Broom Brothers podcast.
"I realised that I still am very competitive," she said. "I reckon I've still got a bit in me, and I want to give another Olympics a bash. It'll be hard work, but I definitely want to give it a go."
She added: "Unfortunately, after Beijing, winning the team gold, I didn't have the opportunity just to focus on mixed. That, I guess, kind of gave me my idea to retire. But I think deep down that fire's still burning, so I've decided I'm going to give it one more shot."
Muirhead, who was born in Perth, Scotland, was a curling prodigy, capturing a record four gold medals at the world juniors. Her curling ascent continued, becoming the youngest skip ever to win the World Women’s Curling Championship in 2013 at age 22. She also became the youngest skip to win a Grand Slam of Curling title just a couple of months later at the Players' Championship.
After winning Olympic gold in women’s curling and the world mixed doubles title, Muirhead wished to focus on mixed doubles, but British Curling apparently wasn’t receptive to the idea at the time.
"I realized I maybe just needed a little bit of a change and I asked a question if it was possible for me just to do the mixed doubles program and I was told no,” she said. “That, as I mentioned, kind of made up my mind that it was time to step away and retire."
Muirhead said she doesn’t have any regrets about her decision to walk away from competitive curling.
“I needed the time off, I'll be honest. I'm really, really glad I did take that time off. There's no way I could have carried on pushing through. I needed the time to kind of focus on something else,” she said.
Muirhead has remained involved in the sport, working with British Curling and serving as general manager for Alpine Curling Club in Rock League. She was also chef de mission for Team Great Britain at this year's Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina.
When British Curling asked her if she'd consider returning just for mixed doubles, her initial reaction was, "Oh, no, don’t be silly," until she gave it some more thought.
“I kind of thought, well, I'm probably the fittest I have ever been right now. I'm training really hard, and I got the opportunity to do it decentralized,” she said. “I've still been down here in England. I'm very fortunate I've got a rink quite close to me that I'll do the majority of my training at, so I thought, why not?
“I feel I've still got it in me, and to get the opportunity to play with Bobby again — we know how great Bobby is, not just as a curler, but as a teammate as well — I think we can put on a pretty good show and see what happens."
Muirhead, who plans to continue her role as GM for Alpine, hasn’t played much since retiring outside of a few charity events.
“I'd be lying if I didn't say I was nervous. … It's a big step in my career going back, like it was a big decision,” she said. “I have absolutely no doubt that the curling ability will be there. I'm not scared, nervous about that side of it at all.
"I guess I'm more kind of anxious, nervous about just being back within that environment and being back to writing on a form when asked what your occupation is and writing 'athlete' again."
Vicky Drummond, who threw third stones for Muirhead, is returning to competitive curling as well. Drummond also stepped back after winning Olympic gold in 2022.
