'Several versions of success' - but women's curlers dream of medal

Media caption,

Olympic champion Dodds leads fresh GB Women's curling team in 'medal hunt'

ByRichard Winton
BBC Sport in Cortina
  • Published

Team GB's women curlers have "several versions of what success looks like" but will start their Winter Olympics in Cortina on Thursday dreaming of a medal, says Rebecca Morrison.

Britain are the defending champions in the event after winning gold in Beijing four years ago, but only Jen Dodds remains from that rink.

Consequently, they are not considered among the favourites in Italy this month, but European silver for the Scots in November, following on from a sixth-place finish in the Worlds in South Korea earlier in the year, suggests they are not far away.

"We've talked about this as a team and we would love to come away with a medal," Morrison, who plays lead, says. "We know that's a huge ask, so we've also been very real and said we're not measuring success by a medal.

"If we play amazingly and are happy with our performance, we don't want to come away and feel devastated just because we don't have some hardware."

The team's newcomers arrived on Sunday and had their first experience of the quirky Cortina Curling Stadium the following day, watching Dodds and Bruce Mouat lose in the mixed doubles semi-final.

And, while they share Dodds' disappointment about missing out on bronze for the second Games in succession, Morrison says her team-mate's experiences over the past week can help when the women start against China (18:05 GMT).

"It's making me feel really encouraged that Jen herself is playing fantastic," Morrison says. "She's got a lot of information she can give us about the ice and the arena, which is fantastic for us.

"It's just been really inspiring watching them. I saw the matches on TV before we came out and I was thinking 'wow, this is crazy'. There's moments of nerves, but I'm looking forward to it."

Winter Olympics 2026

6-22 February

Milan-Cortina

Watch two live streams and highlights on BBC iPlayer (UK only), updates on BBC Radio 5 Live and live text commentary and video highlights on the BBC Sport website and app.