Eve Muirhead (born 22 April 1990) is a Scottish curler from Perth and a former skip of the British Olympic curling team. Muirhead's rink became Olympic champions at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. She is a former world champion, three-time European champion, and eight-time Scottish Women's champion.
As skip of the Scotland team, Muirhead won the 2011 European Championships, the 2013 World Championships, the 2017 European Championships, and the 2021 European Championships. She is also a four-time World Junior Champion (2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011). A four-time Olympian, she represented Great Britain at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, Pyeongchang 2018, and Beijing 2022. In Sochi, she became the youngest-ever skip, male or female, to win an Olympic medal. Muirhead announced her retirement as a curler on 11 August 2022, but in 2026, she announced her intention to return to the sport and compete in the mixed doubles with Bobby Lammie; the pair were previously World Mixed Doubles champions in 2022.
Muirhead is from a family of curlers; her father Gordon is a former three-time World Championship silver medallist, and both her brothers have competed internationally. She is also an accomplished bagpipes player and has competed in the World Pipe Band Championships on four occasions. During her retirement, she worked as a coach, was appointed Chef de Mission for Team GB at the 2026 Winter Olympics, and wrote an autobiography.
Career Early life and junior career Eve Muirhead was born in Perth, Scotland, on 22 April 1990. Her father was former world curling champion Gordon Muirhead, and she grew up on a farm near Blair Atholl with her brothers Glen and Thomas who also became curlers. She attended Blair Atholl Primary School, Pitlochry High School and Morrison's Academy. During her childhood, she watched her father play the sport and she credits curler Rhona Martin's victory at the 2002 Winter Olympics as a major inspiration. She began curling aged nine at Dunkeld Curling Club. She was also a skilled golfer, and played for the regional team in Perth and Kinross. She won the Highland Open, and advanced to the final 16 of the British Girls' Championship. Muirhead was offered scholarships to play golf in the United States, but chose to concentrate on curling as she believed the sport offered her the best opportunity to reach the elite level.
Muirhead competed for Scotland at the 2007 World Junior Curling Championships in Eveleth, Minnesota, The team was skipped by Sarah Reid, and they won the gold medal with a 76 victory over Canada in the final. She skipped her own team to victory at the 2008 Scottish Junior Women's Championship, and won further titles in the competition in both 2009 and 2011. Muirhead was skip for the Scotland team at the 2008 World Junior Curling Championships in Östersund, beating Sweden (skipped by Cecilia Östlund) 12–3 in the final.
Muirhead returned to the 2009 World Junior Curling Championships in Vancouver to play at the Vancouver Olympic Centre, the future site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. She faced the hometown Canadian team led by Kaitlyn Lawes in the final and defeated them 8–6 to secure her third World Junior Championship in a row. In December 2009, she was awarded the BBC Scotland Young Sports Personality of the Year for her achievements in curling. Muirhead also competed at the 2011 World Junior Curling Championships in her native Scotland, and won the gold medal for an unprecedented fourth time in her career. She beat Canada's Trish Paulsen 10–3 in the final.
Senior career 2009–2014: World and European champion
Muirhead was selected as skip for the Great Britain women's curling team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. At the age of 19, she was the youngest skip in Olympic curling history. After winning only three of nine round-robin matches, a 56 loss to Canada ended their competition, and the team failed to qualify for the semi-finals. Following the conclusion of an earlier group match versus Denmark, in which she missed a potential match winning shot with her final stone, Muirhead broke her broom on the ice in frustration.
A few days after returning from the 2010 Winter Olympics, Muirhead successfully defended her Scottish Women's Curling Championship title by defeating Gail Munro 87 in Perth, Scotland. The victory secured her rinks' place at the 2010 Ford World Women's Curling Championship. She finished with the silver medal, after Scotland lost 8–6 to Germany in the final, which went to an extra end. En route to the final, her team finished the round-robin matches in third place with an 8–3 record, then advanced to the semi-finals by winning the 3 vs. 4-page playoff against Sweden, before winning their semi-final against 104 against Canada's rink skipped by Jennifer Jones. She also won a silver medal at the 2010 European Curling Championships in Champéry, Switzerland, following a 68 loss in the final to Sweden's rink led by Stina Viktorsson.
Anna Sloan's rink won the Scottish Championship in 2011, but Muirhead was named as Scotland's alternate at the 2011 Capital One World Women's Curling Championship; the team finished ninth. On 1 November 2011, she won a place at the forthcoming European Championships, after successfully advancing through qualifying. At the 2011 European Curling Championships in Moscow, Muirhead led Scotland to their first gold in the event since 1975. In the final against Sweden, the team of Muirhead, Sloan, Vicki Adams, Claire Hamilton and Kay Adams took a 70 lead after five ends against a team who had started the match unbeaten in the competition. Muirhead's rink completed an 82 victory.
Muirhead won her third Scottish Championship title in 2012 after beating Jackie Lockhart 84 in the semi-finals and Munro 93 in the final. At the 2012 Ford World Women's Curling Championship in Alberta, Canada, her rink ended with a 65 record to place sixth overall. Muirhead attended the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as a spectator, and said the experience helped change her approach to curling. She stated that she began taking fitness and conditioning much more seriously to try and gain an edge on her rivals. Later that year, she won gold at the 2012 European Mixed Curling Championship in Erzurum, Turkey. Skipped by Ewan MacDonald, the team beat Sweden 84 in the final. Muirhead's Scotland team won the silver medal at the 2012 European Curling Championships in Karlstad, Sweden. They were beaten 56 by Russia in an extra end.
She won the Scottish Championship for a fourth time in 2013 by beating Team Fleming 84 in the final. The team of Muirhead, Sloan, Adams, Hamilton and Lauren Gray played at the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship in Riga, Latvia, winning 10 out of 11 matches in the round-robin phase, before defeating Canada 87 in the semi-finals and Sweden's Margaretha Sigfridsson 65 in the final. The win made Muirhead the youngest skip ever to win the World Women's Curling Championship, and she secured victory with her final stone of the contest. In July that year, Muirhead said she was "gutted" with the decision by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC) to block Scotland's entrants at next year's Winter Olympics from competing at the 2014 World Women's Curling Championship; this denied her rink the chance to defend their world title. Former president of the club Robbie Scott called the decision "an absolute disgrace", but the RCCC responded to the situation by stating that they wanted the team to have sole focus on the Olympics. Muirhead and her rink won their first-ever Grand Slam event by winning the 2013 Players' Championship. It marked the first time a European team had won a Grand Slam event. Muirhead faced Sigfridsson's rink in the final, in a re-match of the 2013 World Championship.
Muirhead won the 2013 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic by overcoming China's Bingyu Wang 83 in the final, but a few weeks later, her rink were defeated 57 by Rachel Homan in the final of the 2013 Masters. In the 2013 European Curling Championships in Stavanger, Norway, Muirhead's rink won all of their round-robin games, before progressing past Switzerland to reach the final. They suffered a 510 loss to Sweden to finish with silver.
Muirhead skipped for Great Britain at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Her team qualified for the semi-finals, finishing the round-robin phase in fourth position after winning five of their nine matches. In the semi-finals, Great Britain fell 03 behind against Canada after the first two ends, and were unable to recover the deficit, eventually losing 46 to Jennifer Jones side. Great Britain (Muirhead, Sloan, Adams and Hamilton) won the bronze medal by beating Switzerland 6–5 in the bronze medal play-off. The match was level after nine ends with Muirhead making the winning shot with the final stone. It was the first Olympic medal in curling for Great Britain's women since 2002, when Rhona Martin, now the team coach, led her rink to victory. Muirhead became the youngest ever skip to win an Olympic medal. She won bronze at the 2014 European Curling Championships in Champery following an 84 victory over Denmark. The Danish rink had twice defeated Scotland earlier in the competition. Muirhead won further events at the 2014 Colonial Square Ladies Classic, and the inaugural Women's 2014 Canadian Open of Curling.
2015–2022: Olympic champion Muirhead won the 2015 Scottish Championship by beating Hannah Fleming 65, and claimed her second Grand Slam title of the season by winning the 2015 Players' Championship. At the 2015 World Women's Curling Championship, she finished in fourth place, after suffering a 413 defeat to Russia in the bronze medal match. At the 2015 European Curling Championships in Esbjerg, Denmark, Muirhead's Scotland team fought back from 05 behind to overcome Finland 97 and advance to the gold medal match. They were defeated 46 by Russia in the final to claim silver. She won her sixth Scottish title at the 2016 Championships by beating Gray 84 to qualify her rink for the forthcoming World Championships. At the 2016 World Women's Curling Championship in Saskatchewan, Canada, the team missed the playoffs with seven wins and four defeats in the round-robin phase to finish in fifth place. She won the 2016 Players' Championship, after defeating Jones 96 in the finalher third career victory in the competition.
Muirhead's Scotland rink won bronze at the 2016 European Curling Championships in Braehead, Scotland. They won all nine round-robin games before losing to Russia in the semi-finals. They then beat the Czech Republic 62 in the bronze medal contest. She beat Fleming 64 at the Scottish Championship to win the title for a third straight year, and at the 2017 World Women's Curling Championship in Beijing, Muirhead claimed the bronze medal. Scotland finished fourth in the round-robin stage and overcame Sweden 64 to secure third place, having lost to the Swedish rink earlier in the competition. At the 2017 European Curling Championships in St Gallen, Switzerland, Muirhead led the Scotland team featuring Sloan, Grey and Adams to a 63 success against Sweden to become European champions. Scotland had won seven of their nine round-robin matches, and qualified for the final following a 75 victory over Switzerland in the semi-finals.
Muirhead was skip for the British team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. She led her team to a 6–3 round-robin record, finishing with a victory against Canada, to qualify Great Britain for a semi-finals match against Sweden's Anna Hasselborg rink. Great Britain were defeated 105, leaving them in the bronze medal game against Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa team. Trailing 34 in the final end with one stone remaining, Muirhead missed a chance to win two shots, and Great Britain lost 35 to finish in fourth place.