Eve Muirhead’s sporting achievements in 2022 alone separated her from her peers when she played the shots that brought home Team GB’s solitary gold medal from the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. 
There is no greater prize in sport, but after leading her women’s team to that victory, she followed it up by claiming another gold at the World Mixed Doubles Championships on her first appearance at that event.
Those were astonishing successes for a player who, less than a year earlier, had been left feeling down and out, contemplating retirement after her team became the first women ever to fail to earn automatic qualification for Team GB at the Winter Olympics.
Instead, faced with a battle just to claim a place on the team, she rallied magnificently to fight her way through a challenging squad system and re-establish herself as the outstanding skip of her generation, leading a new line-up to victory at the European Championships and top spot in the final Olympic Qualification Event.
Combining the tactical mastery of a cricketing captain with the clinical finishing power of a footballing striker, Muirhead – who is also a scratch golfer and world class bagpiper - has played a huge part in popularising a minority sport. 
That is not just down to success on the ice because her willingness to evangelise for curling at every turn, showing endless enthusiasm for promotional appearances, has established her as a true Sports Personality.
Voting opens tonight for the 2022 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards and up against rivals from sports with much bigger followings, Muirhead’s selection on the short-list represents another odds-defying triumph in its own right for the four-time Olympian.
This is an opportunity for her sport and for everyone who became obsessed with curling at the Winter Olympics to pay their tribute to a once-in-a-lifetime talent.
Click here for more on the BBC SPOTY event and the six contenders shortlisted for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
The nominees are Eve Muirhead, cricketer Ben Stokes, snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan, footballer Beth Mead, athlete Jake Wightman and gymnast Jessica Gadirova.
Voting will be open during the show on BBC One tonight and coverage begins from 6.45pm.
Images: Team GB/David Pearce/Sam Mellish, WCF/Celine Stucki/Cheyenne Boone, Gary Bowden Sport In Pictures, Alan Peebles Photography.
