British curling boss Nigel Holl hopes to grow sport after Olympic medals

British curling boss Nigel Holl hopes Winter Olympic Games success will launch a revolution in the sport and provide more golden days like the one enjoyed in Beijing.

Eve Muirhead’s team added to the men’s silver won by Bruce Mouat and company to claim Great Britain’s first curling gold medal since Rhona Martin’s famous triumph in 2002.

But Holl, the Team GB performance director for curling, insists action must be taken now to ensure it is not another two decades before British curlers are on top of the Olympic podium again.

“We have got to do something differently to what we did back then,” Holl said after Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jennifer Dodds and Hailey Duff, plus alternate Mili Smith, won Britain’s first gold medal on the final day of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

“We are hearing, and it is quite hard to tell from Beijijng, that the country has totally switched on to curling and loving it.

“My plea to ice rink owners across the UK is buy some curling stones, put some curling sheets down, give people the opportunity to try the game.

“It is a sport for everybody from eight to 80 genuinely. It is an incredible social sport and superb at elite level as well.

My plea to ice rink owners across the UK is buy some curling stones, put some curling sheets down, give people the opportunity to try the game- Nigel Holl, Team GB performance director for curling

“Facilities across the UK should wake up, seize the opportunity and my plea to facility operators, organisations like Sport England, Sport Scotland and Sport Wales, is to invest in curling facilities.

“There are something like about 28 specialised rinks in Scotland and there are three operating at the moment for curling in England – Tunbridge Wells, Preston, Cambridge. We need