Eve Muirhead (born 22 April 1990) is a Scottish curler from Perth and a former skip of the British Olympic curling team. Muirhead's rink became Olympic champions at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. She is a former world champion, three-time European champion, and eight-time Scottish women's champion.
As skip of the Scotland team, Muirhead won the 2011 European Championships, the 2013 World Championships, the 2017 European Championships, and the 2021 European Championships. She is also a four-time World Junior Champion (2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011). A four-time Olympian, she represented Great Britain at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, Pyeongchang 2018, and Beijing 2022. In Sochi, she became the youngest-ever skip, male or female, to win an Olympic medal. Muirhead announced her retirement as a curler on 11 August 2022, but in 2026, she announced her intention to return to the sport and compete in the mixed doubles with Bobby Lammie; the pair were previously World Mixed Doubles champions in 2022.
Muirhead is from a family of curlers; her father Gordon is a former three-time World Championship silver medallist, and both her brothers have competed internationally. She is also an accomplished bagpipes player and has competed in the World Pipe Band Championships on four occasions. During her retirement, she worked as a coach, was appointed Chef de Mission for Team GB at the 2026 Winter Olympics, and wrote an autobiography.
Eve Muirhead was born in Perth, Scotland, on 22 April 1990. Her father was former world curling champion Gordon Muirhead, and she grew up on a farm near Blair Atholl with her brothers Glen and Thomas who also became curlers. She attended Blair Atholl Primary School, Pitlochry High School and Morrison's Academy. During her childhood, she watched her father play the sport and she credits curler Rhona Martin's victory at the 2002 Winter Olympics as a major inspiration. Muirhead began curling aged nine at Dunkeld Curling Club. She was also a skilled golfer, and played for the regional team in Perth and Kinross. She won the Highland Open, and advanced to the final 16 of the British Girls' Championship. Muirhead was offered scholarships to play golf in the United States, but chose to concentrate on curling as she believed the sport offered her the best opportunity to reach the elite level.
Muirhead competed for Scotland at the 2007 World Junior Curling Championships in Eveleth, Minnesota, The team was skipped by Sarah Reid, and they won the gold medal with a 7–6 victory over Canada in the final. She skipped her own team to victory at the 2008 Scottish Junior Women's Championship, and won further titles in the competition in both 2009 and 2011. Muirhead was skip for the Scotland team at the 2008 World Junior Curling Championships in Östersund, beating Sweden (skipped by Cecilia Östlund) 12–3 in the final.
Muirhead returned to the 2009 World Junior Curling Championships in Vancouver to play at the Vancouver Olympic Centre, the future site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. She faced the hometown Canadian team led by Kaitlyn Lawes in the final and defeated them 8–6 to secure her third World Junior Championship in a row. In December 2009, she was awarded the BBC Scotland Young Sports Personality of the Year award for her achievements in curling. Muirhead competed at the 2011 World Junior Curling Championships in her native Scotland, and won the gold medal for an unprecedented fourth time in her career. She beat Canada's Trish Paulsen 10–3 in the final.
Senior career 2009–2014: World and European champion
Muirhead represented Scotland at the 2009 World Women's Curling Championship in Gangneung, South Korea. They finished the round-robin phase with five wins and six defeats and were eliminated from the competition, but their performance earned Great Britain a place at the following year's Olympics. Later that year, she won the Three Nations Cup for Great Britain, and finished sixth with Scotland at the 2009 European Curling Championships in Aberdeen, Scotland. Muirhead was skip for the Great Britain women's curling team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. At the age of 19, she was the youngest skip in Olympic curling history. They began the event by defeating reigning world champions China 5–4 in their opening tie, but after winning only three of their nine round-robin matches, a 5–6 loss to Canada ended their competition, and the team failed to qualify for the semi-finals. Following the conclusion of an earlier group match versus Denmark, in which she missed a potential match winning shot with her final stone, Muirhead broke her broom on the ice in frustration.
A few days after returning from the 2010 Winter Olympics, Muirhead successfully defended her Scottish Women's Curling Championship title by defeating Gail Munro 8–7 in Perth, Scotland. The victory secured her rinks' place at the 2010 World Women's Curling Championship. There, she finished with the silver medal, after Scotland lost 8–6 to Germany in the final, which went to an extra end. En route to the final, her team finished the round-robin matches in third place with an 8–3 record, then advanced to the semi-finals by winning the 3 vs. 4-page playoff against Sweden, before winning their semi-final 10–4 against Canada's rink skipped by Jennifer Jones. She also won a silver medal at the 2010 European Curling Championships in Champéry, Switzerland, following a 6–8 loss in the final to Sweden's rink led by Stina Viktorsson.
Anna Sloan's rink won the Scottish Championship in 2011, but Muirhead was named as Scotland's alternate at the 2011 World Women's Curling Championship; the team finished ninth. On 1 November 2011, she won a place at the forthcoming European Championships, after successfully advancing through qualifying. At the 2011 European Curling Championships in Moscow, Muirhead led Scotland to their first gold in the event since 1975. They advanced to the final following a 10–2 semi-final victory over Denmark. In the gold medal match against Sweden, the team of Muirhead, Sloan, Vicki Adams, Claire Hamilton and Kay Adams took a 7–0 lead after five ends against a team who had started the match unbeaten in the competition. Muirhead's rink completed an 8–2 victory. Muirhead was named to represent Team World in the 2012 Continental Cup, and they defeated Team North America to win the event.
Muirhead won her third Scottish Championship title in 2012 after beating Jackie Lockhart 8–4 in the semi-finals and Munro 9–3 in the final. At the 2012 World Women's Curling Championship in Alberta, Canada, her rink ended with a 6–5 record to place sixth overall. Muirhead attended the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as a spectator, and said the experience helped change her approach to curling. She stated that she began taking fitness and conditioning much more seriously to try and gain an edge on her rivals. Later that year, she won gold at the 2012 European Mixed Curling Championship in Erzurum, Turkey. Skipped by Ewan MacDonald, the team beat Sweden 8–4 in the final. Muirhead's Scotland team won the silver medal at the 2012 European Curling Championships in Karlstad, Sweden. After overcoming Sweden in the semi-finals, her rink were beaten in the final 5–6 by Russia in an extra end. At the 2013 Continental Cup, she was a member of Team World who were defeated by Team North America.
Muirhead won the Scottish Championship for a fourth time in 2013 by beating Team Fleming 8–4 in the final. The team of Muirhead, Sloan, Adams, Hamilton and Lauren Gray played at the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship in Riga, Latvia, winning 10 out of 11 matches in the round-robin phase, before defeating Canada 8–7 in the semi-finals and Sweden's Margaretha Sigfridsson 6–5 in the final. The win made Muirhead the youngest skip ever to win the World Women's Curling Championship, and she secured victory with her final stone of the contest. In July that year, Muirhead said she was "gutted" with the decision by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC) to block Scotland's entrants at next year's Winter Olympics from competing at the 2014 World Women's Curling Championship; this denied her rink the chance to defend their world title. Former president of the club Robbie Scott called the decision "an absolute disgrace", but the RCCC responded to the situation by stating that they wanted the team to have sole focus on the Olympics. Muirhead and her rink won their first-ever Grand Slam event by winning the 2013 Players' Championship. It marked the first time a European team had won an event in the series. Muirhead faced Sigfridsson's rink in the final, in a re-match of the 2013 World Championship.