Winter Olympics: Why coming out was the start point for Mouat's Olympic double gold bid

Bruce Mouat says telling his team-mates he is gay «was possibly the best thing I ever did for my career».

The Scot has led his curling rink on an upward curve in the past few years, to the point they head into the Winter Olympics as the world's number one ranked side.

Mouat and mixed doubles partner Jen Dodds could become the first British athletes to win two golds at the same Winter Olympics, too, as they head to Beijing as world champions alongside their commitments in the men's and women's events.

Mouat's rise is down to many things — skill, determination, and composure are just a few. But he's clear that being true to himself has also been a big factor.

«It was something I was scared to do at the time,» the 27-year-old says. «I had been playing in juniors for a couple of years and I wasn't really getting the success I was looking for.

»I always felt that we were good enough and the only thing that I could really put my thumb on was me not being truthful to who I was with the guys I was playing with.

«We were obviously all teenagers — they all wanted to talk about girls and I just wasn't able to participate in that conversation. And I'd always kind of hid away and shied away from that.

»But after seeing how people could live their life as a gay person it encouraged me to do it because you were seeing so many people having success and still being happy. It was a very freeing experience for me."

Having already come out to friends and family, telling his team-mates was the final hurdle, and he credits the wider curling community for their support.

His advice to others who might be struggling to be themselves openly is to lean on those close to them.

«I've never actually thought of myself as a role model for doing it,» Mouat