Winter Olympics 2022: ‘It’s taken 20 years, what took them so long!’ - 2002 curling champion Rhona Howie laps up success

Updated 20/02/2022 at 09:10 GMT

Rhona Howie, better known by her previous name, Rhona Martin, says it’s “phenomenal” for British curling to have another Winter Olympic gold, after Eve Muirhead put the disappointment of previous Games behind her to guide her rink to a dominant win over Japan. Howie is predicting an explosion in the sport’s profile across the UK.

‘GB have surely won the Olympic title’ – Watch moment Muirhead delivers key blow in final

The last British curling gold at the Winter Olympics came 20 years ago in Salt Lake City - “what took them so long?!” joked the skip who guided them to that victory, after Eve Muirhead’s rink topped the podium in Beijing.

Rhona Howie, better known by her previous name, Rhona Martin, has described Team GB’s dominant win over Japan as “phenomenal” for the sport in the UK.

Muirhead put previous disappointment at the Games behind her to guide her team to gold in the Ice Cube, having come close to missing out on qualification. She missed her chance to seal a place in Beijing with a disappointing performance at the World Championships last year - which led to the whole squad being shaken up.

Beijing 2022

Grainger vows Team GB will improve after Beijing disappointment

27/02/2022 at 16:04

They went on to win the European Championships and qualify through a different tournament, and almost went out in the Olympic round robin stage. But the British curlers came good when it really mattered and Howie says the manner of the 10-3 win meant the result was never in doubt.

‘Perfect again!’ – Watch moment Muirhead’s rink seal Team GB’s first gold of Beijing Games

“It was just incredible, we were even quite confident,” Howie said.

“After they got the two at the first end, they were in complete control. I was completely confident they would get the gold medal.

It’s taken them 20 years, what took them so long! It’s amazing.

“Less than a year ago at the World Championships, Eve finished eighth, they went through a whole squad system to try and rejig the team, get the dynamics right and oh my goodness, look what they’ve achieved in less than a year - it’s phenomenal.”

'It's been a long time coming' - Muirhead revels in 'incredible' Team GB curling win

Muirhead and the men’s skip, Bruce Mouat, have been clear that Howie’s success in 2002 inspired them to take up the sport seriously and the skip from Salt Lake City is expecting curling’s popularity to explode again.

“How good is this for sport in Britain? 20 years ago we got a lot of publicity about curling, and now we’ve got it again, it’s just fantastic - a gold and silver here this week, we couldn’t ask for much more.”

- - -

The Olympic Games will return with Paris 2024, live on Eurosport and discovery+

Beijing 2022