Hailey Duff’s father says she is ‘over the moon’ at Olympic gold medal win

Curler Hailey Duff is “over the moon” about winning a gold medal at her first Olympics, her father has said.

John Duff said he is “so happy for the team” – which also included Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright and Jennifer Dodds – after they won Britain’s first gold on the last day of the games in Beijing.

It was the third major event at senior international level for his 25-year-old daughter, who a year ago was not yet a full-time athlete.

Mr Duff has not yet had a chance to speak to his daughter, but has exchanged several Whatsapp messages with her.

He told the PA news agency: “I think it’s just been such a whirlwind it’s not really hit her yet.

“She is absolutely stoked, over the moon.”

Mr Duff, who was himself competing in the Scottish Curling Senior Championships on Sunday, praised the team for their performance in China.

He said: “I don’t think I could have written the script to be honest, I’m relieved, I’m so happy for the team.

“They have worked so hard, I mean every team works hard but they have really worked hard to make it work and I’m particularly pleased for Eve.

“On her fourth trip to the games and I think, she has been in the bronze medal game twice and I think to get past that hurdle I think meant a lot to her and in the final I just thought the team played so well, they bossed the game right from the start, got the two in the first end and then kicked off from there so I think they did tremendously well.”

Mr Duff watched the match with a group of other curlers and some wedding guests at a hotel bar in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, where he was staying ahead of his own game on Sunday.

And his daughter’s win sweetened his own loss in a quarter-final match.

He joked: “If one of us was going to lose today it was better that it was me.”

Hailey Duff, from Forfar, began curling at the age of eight and is now a full-time athlete.

She marked her international debut with gold at the European Championships in Lillehammer in Norway in 2021.

Mr Duff said: “Her first major event was the European championships in Lillehammer where they only dropped one game and they beat Sweden in the final, and that was her fist big major final in front of TV cameras.

“Then they had the Olympic qualification event which was a high pressured event in Holland, to qualify for the Olympics, and then this is her third major event I suppose, women’s event outside of juniors anyway, and to play as she did with the calmness that she played with I think was fantastic.”