With 100 days to go until the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, Eve Muirhead gives us a sneak peek at what it takes to lead a delegation as Chef de Mission.
With 100 days to go until the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, Beijing 2022 Olympic curling champion Eve Muirhead is opening the doors and giving us a sneak peek at what it takes to lead a delegation as Chef de Mission.
The third part in the Team GB series, get ready to go behind the scenes; welcome to Diary of a Chef: Part Three.
There are some key milestones that are always recognised: A Year to Go and 100 Days to Go, and putting myself in the athlete's shoes, you can't ignore it. The pressure is building up and a lot of them are yet to qualify, so it's little nuggets like 100 Days to Go which I want to use to motivate athletes to train hard. Before we know it, it's going to be Games time!
What I've tried to do is make sure the athletes are at the forefront of what we do, but I can't do that unless we engage the wider team. The athletes won't perform without their coaches performing or without the support or HQ staff performing, so I need to make sure that everyone is aligned and can get their wants and needs. But the overall vibe is good at the moment. The last couple of weeks, it has really stepped up a little bit.
As an individual, the role is starting to become a little bit easier, but that's because I was coming from being an athlete straight into a Chef role, so there wasn't much of a transition. There was a lot of learning very quickly and I am still learning every day but getting a lot more comfortable with it. I still struggle to switch off and am always responding to emails. But I think that's my athlete mentality, being on the ball and making sure everyone else is okay and my team have the help and support that they need.
As the days draw darker and colder, it marks the start of a brand-new winter sport season, but every World Cup and Grand Prix will have added pressure this year.
With an Olympic Games around the corner, it's a pivotal moment for athletes and National Olympic Committees alike, with team announcements on the horizon and last-minute qualifications on the line.
My advice to the athletes is don't change anything for the sake of it being an Olympic year, as we know everyone performs better when they're enjoying it and relaxed. I look at our success across World Championships last year and we won nine medals, which was the most ever in a season leading into an Olympic Games, and we want to carry on that trend. I don't think the success of last season puts any extra stress on the sports but maybe a little bit on us as the NOC. The Winter Olympics is so different to any other event, it's not a world or European champs. The Olympic Games is an absolute beast, and we need to prepare them for that.
Those athletes are fighting for places and there isn't a spot for every athlete unfortunately, so I'm excited but a little nervous for them. I don't have any say in terms of who is selected but I want to go to as many of the announcements as possible because it's a very special moment for the athletes. I've still got my letters from when I was asked to be part of Team GB!
With the new season underway and 100 days to go, Eve and her team now look ahead to the most important few months of the calendar.
Simply put, it's all systems go at Team GB.
And as she works hard to give the athletes and staff the best experience possible come Games time, Eve is doing everything in her capacity to put winter sport in the headlines.
It's been a busy summer, but I didn't retire to sit and twiddle my thumbs at home. During the summer, I went to the Edinburgh Tattoo and the Fringe Festival, I wrote an autobiography, and I went to the Rugby World Cup final, which was great - though it would have been better if Scotland were there...!
If I can help build the winter sport profile in Great Britain, then that's great. The rest of my summer has just been taken up by this role of Chef de Mission because honestly, I'm so passionate about it. Being in this role, I can help athletes achieve their dreams and I don't want to make a mess of that, I want to get it right.
One thing I didn't appreciate so much is just how tight accreditations are when it comes to Games time. As an athlete, you just assume you can have as many people you want in the Olympic Village supporting you, but we physically can't give them accreditations for all of that due to the Organising Committee's rules. You have to make those decisions and think about who we will most need out there, and sometimes those conversations are really hard. That's not our fault, it's the same for every nation, but it's hard. Securing accommodation out in Italy has been tough too, it's quite the operation. I'm doing lots of work on the Commercial programme as well, as without those key partners we can't make it that extra bit special for the athletes. They really are crucial to us.
It's all about making sure that we're sensible with time now, having a break ourselves but then continuing those leadership meetings to keep everyone really engaged. We need everyone, whether they're travelling staff or back in London, to feel part of the journey and part of the team. I am really enjoying it still and I'm working with some really great people. I just can't wait to go out there and be a part of it.
Sportsbeat 2025