David Murdoch has learned the lessons from his own Olympic rollercoaster as he aims to steer Great Britain to an unprecedented trio of curling medals in Beijing.
Murdoch capped a trio of appearances with a silver medal in Sochi in 2014 and was not slow in expressing his disappointment when he was overlooked to go to a fourth in Pyeongchang four years ago.
But the Lockerbie 43-year-old, a world champion in both 2006 and 2009, fixed his wounds sufficiently to accept a role as British Curling’s Olympic head coach later that same year, and will have a crucial part to play in the Chinese capital.
“My goal was to go to Pyeongchang and try to do one better than silver, but it didn’t pan out that way,” admitted Murdoch, who was overlooked in favour of Kyle Smith despite having steered his team into the qualifying slot.
“I gave it everything and at the end of the day I knew it would be the end either way. I had made the decision to retire and that actually gave me a passion to help other people achieve that dream.
“As a young kid, you never think you are going to be part of the Olympic Games, and certainly not in curling, because the sport didn’t come back into the programme until 1998.
“I was really lucky to be part of three amazing teams and three Olympic campaigns, every one of which we thought we could medal at, especially 2010 when we went in as world champions.
“You learn from experiences like that and when we went to Sochi it just clicked. For me it was an incredible experience to get that medal I’d been chasing for so long, and I’d like to think my experiences can help these guys.”
Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds, the reigning world champions, make history as Britain’s first representatives in the mixed doubles event when they open the round-robin phase against Sweden on Wednesday.
Later in the Games Mouat will switch to skip his men’s team as they look to improve on their 2021 World Championship silver, while Dodds will join Eve Muirhead who starts her fourth Olympics eager to build on the bronze she earned also in Sochi in 2014.
“I think it is really exciting,” added Murdoch. “We have got teams who have delivered consistently at the top and it is exciting to have teams that are very driven and focused towards an Olympic Games.
“There is certainly knowledge and experience about the situations I was in, and if any of those arise then I would like to think I can help them deal with that.
“But you have got to have that passion. From being an athlete to sitting on the sidelines, this is the tougher part now. It is a case of channelling that passion as best you can.”
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