Olympic champion curler Muirhead calls off retirement

Olympic champion curler Muirhead has announced she is coming out of retirement. The athlete said her competitive side never disappeared, and the more time she spent around elite sport and curling, the more she began to wonder whether she still had something to give on the ice.

Muirhead acknowledged that the road to the Olympics is demanding, but said she is returning from a very different place. She feels refreshed, physically strong and excited by the challenge, and insisted she would not be coming back unless she believed she could perform at that level again.

Her team-mate from the gold medal-winning rink, Vicky Drummond, is also returning to the sport to rival Muirhead and another member of that team, Jen Dodds, in the GB Curling mixed doubles programme. Drummond, 32, said being part of the BBC Sport team in Cortina in February rekindled her passion for competing. The intensive care nurse wants to show her young daughter Sophie that becoming a mum does not mean ambitions have to end.

"More than anything, I want my return to mean something beyond the ice," Drummond said. She added that she wants Sophie to grow up knowing it is never too late to chase something that excites you. "If she grows up believing that anything is possible because she watched me try, then this journey will already have been worth it." Drummond, who will partner Euan Kyle, said she has no idea where the road will lead but is excited to find out.