Gold medal winning curler Eve Muirhead OBE has been named as Team GB’s Chef de Mission for the Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games in 2026. 
Perth-born Muirhead, aged 34, will lead the British team into action at the winter edition of the Games, which returns to Italy for the first time since Torino 2006. In doing so, she will be the second ever female Chef de Mission for Team GB, following in the footsteps of fellow Olympian Georgina Harland, who led the team at Beijing 2022. She will be the first Scot to lead the team since Mike Hay at PyeongChang 2018.
A four-time Olympian who debuted in Vancouver in 2010, Muirhead was most recently Chef de Mission for Team GB at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games, which was officially Team GB’s most successful winter event on record, with the team securing six medals in total: four gold medals, along with a silver and a bronze, to finish ninth overall in the medal table.
Speaking of her appointment, Muirhead said: “I am truly honoured and delighted to have been asked to be Chef de Mission for Team GB, and I cannot wait to get to work on this project. I’ve seen first-hand how talented our winter sports athletes are, and our aim should be to unlock that potential when it comes to the Milano Cortina Olympic Games.”
Sir Hugh Robertson, Chair of the BOA, commented: “Eve proved her credentials as our Chef de Mission at our most successful ever Winter Youth Olympic Games. She is an outstanding young leader, and we had no hesitation in unanimously agreeing her appointment.”
Andy Anson OBE, CEO of the British Olympic Association, added: “Eve is a leader, whether that is on the ice with her rink, or as Chef de Mission, as she will be for Team GB in two years’ time. She’s an incredibly impressive and professional individual who understands what it takes to win and represent her country with pride.”
Nigel Holl, British Curling’s Chief Executive, welcomed the news of the appointment to this prestigious role of a woman who has been a magnificent ambassador for her sport throughout her Olympic career.
“As skip of the team which won Team GB’s only gold medal at what was her fourth appearance at a Games, few athletes have ever boasted more experience of leading teams at the Olympics than Eve Muirhead and her selection for the role of Chef de Mission in Milan Cortina is just another way in which she has generated enormous pride for the curling community,” he said.
“Having delivered so many crucial shots under maximum pressure in guiding her team to that Olympic title in Beijing, no one is better placed to help the next generation of athletes as they aim to bring more gold home from Italy.”
Muirhead retired from curling in 2022, following her becoming Olympic Champion at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games alongside team-mates Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds, Hailey Duff and Mili Smith.
As well as her Olympic gold medal, Muirhead also won bronze as skip of the women’s curling team at Sochi 2014 and has been both a world and European champion.
Images: Team GB /David Pearce
