Olympics gold medallist Holly is a role model for young curling enthusiasts
While casually hopping through TV channels in a Portuguese hotel room, 10-year-old Lanarkshire schoolgirl Holly Burke settled for the only English-speaking viewing option – live coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics Curling competition.Six years on, Holly is now an Olympic gold medallist, and is among the new generation of inspirational, young elite athletes who are driving the renaissance of curling.
Remembering how curling captured her imagination when she watched it on TV while on holiday with mum Caroline and dad Paul, Holly said: “I had the opposite mindset to a lot of other people. A lot of people found it beyond boring, but to me it was really interesting.” She joined forces with the Haggart sisters and with fellow curling enthusiast Alison Hamilton, who together formed a friendship and an under-14 team that was to be the launchpad for Holly’s glittering curling career.
Becoming an integral part of the Scottish young curlers’ fraternity, Holly, of the village of Ferniegair in South Lanarkshire, began playing at the mixed under-17 level with people she soon counted as friends. On completion of four slams, the five-strong team was crowned the overall winner and Scottish champion.
Having played the Danes previously and won, Holly said: “We were confident in our ability because we knew how they played. But because we had a shaky start, our confidence went down, pretty much. “He cracked and we won the extra end. When he missed it, I was crying. My mum was crying. Everyone was crying.”
Since returning home, Holly has expressed her gratitude to those whose support along the way helped her to victory. Champion Holly also did a ‘lap of honour’ at New College Lanarkshire, aptly on International Women’s Day, where her “amazing” hairdressing course tutors went out of their way to accommodate her training demands by approving absences that so helped her on her way to realising her Olympic dream.
In addition, Provost Margaret Cooper hosted Holly and her mum at council HQ to congratulate the talented youngster and present her with an engraved silver trinket box on behalf of the people of South Lanarkshire.
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