Winter Olympics: Eve Muirhead backs Scottish curlers to win three medals in Beijing, with Edinburgh's Bruce Mouat collecting two of them

At tomorrow's opening ceremony, Muirhead will be the second curler to carry the flag after Rhona Martin was given the honour at the closing ceremony in 2002 and opening in 2006.

But Muirhead, who will share duties with skier and fellow four-time Olympian Dave Ryding, has her eye on a chunkier slice of British Winter Olympic history in Beijing.

The 31-year-old believes Mouat’s men’s team, the dynamic mixed doubles Edinburgh duo of Mouat and Jennifer Dodds and her own women’s rink are all capable of bringing back precious metal.

“There’s nothing stopping us coming away with three medals,” said Muirhead.

“Bruce and his men are the best team in the world right now and they’re going to be in the fight with medals.

“Bruce and Jen have made a fantastic start, a dream start, in the doubles and as world champions they’re going in with form.

“My team are capable of beating every single team out there and we’ve done that this season. We’ll have tough matches but we’ve proven we can beat anyone.”

Muirhead is the sole Olympic veteran in the current ten-strong curling crop, but they couldn’t be better equipped with form and experience to deal with the Games scrutiny.

Mouat and Dodds beat world bronze medallist Sweden and reigning Olympic champions Canada in their first two games, showing early mastery of conditions in the Ice Cube despite then slipping to an 8-7 loss to Switzerland.

Skip Muirhead wants to mine her teammate’s knowledge of exactly how the sheets at the repurposed Aquatics Centre will play.

“It’s a massive plus for us that we’ve got two athletes competing in the Ice Cube before us,” she said.

“With Jen and Bruce, there’s a chance to sit down with them before we start and get inside information into the ice conditions.