To no one’s surprise, Bruce Mouat’s curling teams—his four-player men’s squad and his mixed doubles pairing—have been formally selected to represent Great Britain at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
The British Olympic Association made it official in an announcement today.
All six athletes named so far are the first ones selected to “Team GB” for the Games, and all will make their Olympic debuts in Beijing. Mouat will be joined by Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, Hammy McMillan, men’s alternate Ross Whyte and his mixed doubles partner Jennifer Dodds.
Team GB imageMouat and Dodds won the 2021 World Mixed Doubles Championship title—the Swedes finished third—while his men’s team finished second at the World Men’s Championship behind Sweden. Mouat’s men then won back-to-back Grand Slam of Curling titles in the Calgary bubble, capping a month of spectacular achievements.
“I’m absolutely delighted to finally get the news that we’re going to be heading to Beijing,” said Mouat, whose men’s team is on full display in the 2022 Curling Cares Fundraising Calendar, in aid of Prostate Cancer UK.
“It’s so exciting and testament to the effort that all of us have put in over the last four years to get to this point.
“We’re obviously going to aim really high when we’re there and we’re hoping to come home with some medals.
“In terms of the mixed doubles it’s all the more exciting to be able to play in both events. I don’t think I ever dreamed of being able to play in two Olympic disciplines when I was younger, just because it wasn’t a thing, so to have that opportunity now and to be the first British Olympian to do so makes it even better. It’s something I will have for the rest of my life and that’s something I’ll cherish.”
Team GB imageMouat and 24-year-old Lammie have played together throughout their senior careers, having won a World Junior title in 2016.
They joined forces in 2017 with 29-year-old cousins Hardie, the team’s third and McMillan, the son of world champion and 2002 Olympian Hammy Sr.
“To be selected for my first Olympics means so much,” said Dodds. “It means a lot to be in the team with Bruce as well. We’ve known each other for so long. We started at the same club, so sharing this moment together is something really special.”
Team GB will be looking to improve on their PyeongChang 2018 results, which saw Kyle Smith’s men’s squad finish 5-4 while failing to qualify a team in Mixed Doubles. On the women’s side, veteran skip Eve Muirhead missed repeating her bronze from Sochi 2014 with a loss to Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa.
Muirhead is one of nine athletes who have been competing on the World Curling Tour in a rotation of two women’s teams with various lineups. A selection announcement for the team which needs to advance from the Olympic Qualifying Event in December is forthcoming.