Vicky Wright hoping it'll be 'checkmate' to Team GB

Vicky Wright played a huge role in the qualification event (Picture by WCF / Steve Seixeiro)

Wright, 28, has been selected in Team GB’s five-strong women’s team for Beijing 2022 after helping Eve Muirhead’s Scottish rink secure a qualifying spot in the Netherlands last month.

Wright, Muirhead, Jennifer Dodds and Hailey Duff, also from Forfar, selected for the games alongside alternate Mili Smith, racked up five consecutive triumphs to bounce back from a slow start and follow up November’s European hegemony in Lillehammer.

Curling has long been one of Britain’s most successful Winter Olympic sports, with Rhona Martin’s storied ‘Stone of Destiny’ at Salt Lake City 2002 firing Team GB to their first Winter Olympic gold medal since for 18 years.

‘Chess on ice’ enjoys a cherished national status whenever g ames-time rolls around and Wright, who juggles her career with a job as a staff nurse at Forth Valley Hospital, can’t wait to revel in the spotlight when she descends on the Chinese capital at the start of February.

She said: “You’ve just got to embrace it and enjoy it.

“I’m very excited and it’s so magical to finally be announced. After everything we’ve been through, to get here and get the job done is brilliant.

“With work in the NHS and Covid-19, it’s very much a case of me getting the best of both worlds. I get to play Olympic sport and I get to work as well – it’s a dream to do both.

“The Winter Olympics are a once in a lifetime opportunity, and you’ve got to try and take every moment as it comes and really cherish it.

“Once you step on ice, your nerves seem to go a bit more as you’re in control. It’s almost worse watching. But we’ll see how we go at the Olympics.”

Muirhead’s resurgent rink capped a European Championship to savour as a 7-4 victory over Olympic champions Sweden hauled them to glory in Norway.

A nervy Olympic Qualifying Event in Holland then followed but after losing their first two matches, the Scots re-found their Lillehammer form to construct that unbeaten run and secure their seat on the plane.

Turkey’s triumph over Japan ensured Muirhead’s team would join Bruce Mouat’s men in Beijing and Wright, one of over 1,000 athletes who are able to train full-time, access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering technology, science and medical support thanks to vital National Lottery funding, added: “We’re in really good form just now and we don’t want to disrupt it.

“I just need to keep doing what I’m doing. We’re training really well and need to keep going on ice and keep our head down.

“We’ve all worked really hard to get here – it’s been a challenging season, but we’re in a good stead now and we just need to keep supporting each other and working together.”

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