Curling runs in the family for David Murdoch – and dad Matt admits it would be one of their proudest moments if he goes on to skip Great Britain to a medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Murdoch took over from regular skip Tom Brewster earlier this year and led Scotland to bronze at the World Championships in Canada in April with the latter playing as third.
Coach Soren Gran elected to add Murdoch to Brewster’s rink ahead of the worlds and operate a five-man rotation policy – a gamble that 70-year-old Matt hopes is replicated in Sochi next year.
And Matt insists an Olympic medal – something that cruelly eluded Murdoch at Turin 2006 before his rink finished fifth at Vancouver 2010 – isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.
“They are rated in the top three in the world so a medal would be nice, they have had great experiences over the last two or three years,” said Matt, a three-time Scottish senior champion himself.
“The girls’ chances will probably rated higher because they are world champions, but it’s not easy. The men have been playing a five-man team for the past year.
“And it finished up that David was skip at the last World Championships, and I’m sure he’d love to be skip for Sochi, we certainly would be very proud.
“You can have five men going into a competition and you can rotate them in any order, you can have four playing and one sits out all the time, but they have been rotating all the time recently, for the past year.”
Murdoch’s credentials certainly lend weight to his cause – the 35-year-old has racked up an impressive haul of two gold, two silver and now two bronze medals at the worlds over the past eight years.
He also has an experienced family to call on – as well as his dad Murdoch also has sister Nancy, assistant national men’s coach, and brother Neil, a former European champion.
And Matt claims that family connection has stood his son in good stead throughout his career on the ice.
“It’s been in the family ever since my father,” he added. “I curled a lot; I’ve been Scottish champion three times – at senior level mind you – in 2001, 2008 and 2010.
“My wife, Marion, is the curling coach at Lockerbie and hopefully we are going to have at least three members of that curling team going to Sochi – David, Anna Sloan and Claire Hamilton.
“The ice rink at Lockerbie was built in 1967 and we got hooked on it, it’s a profession, it’s a career. I think you will find it runs in families, you have to have that competitive edge but it’s the willingness of your family that helps.
“It makes it easier for the youngsters to come through, but that’s the case in a lot of other sports.”
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