Freestyle skier Kirsty Muir says her time at the Winter Olympics still hasn’t sunk in as she reflects on her debut games in Beijing.
At only 17-years-old, she was the youngest member of Team GB in Beijing and had an impressive debut on the Olympic slopes.
Muir competed in two events, earning a fifth place finish in the Big Air and eighth spot in the Slopestyle.
In Beijing she was competing against the usual suspects of the skiing circuit, but the opportunity to do so on sport’s biggest stage heightened the experience.
Muir admits that she still has to pinch herself that she has competed at the pinnacle of her sport.
“It was the same people that you are used to competing against, but it’s just knowing that so many people across the world are watching,” Muir said.
“That was the different thing, and just being able to showcase our sport on the biggest stage was really cool.
“It still feels surreal.
“The whole Beijing experience doesn’t feel real yet.”
Olympic traditions
Despite Covid-19 affecting the games, Muir still got a good taste of the Olympic experience.
She was able to ‘hang out’ in the Olympic Village with other athletes, and even got involved in the tradition of pin trading.
Olympic pin trading is a tradition that stretches back to 1896 where different nations collect and exchange badges to commemorate their time at the Games.
Muir explained: “It’s sort of like a little competition, and some people take it more seriously than others.
“I got some really cool ones from the Chinese volunteers; one pin I got was the Great Wall of China.
“I got Montenegro, Moldova and Pakistan – and they only had one athlete competing so it was really cool to get that.
“I had a lot of fun and it was a great thing to do when you had some downtime.”
While in Beijing Muir wasn’t aware of the extent of the support she was receiving back home, but was delighted to find out when she returned to Aberdeen.
Some of her biggest supporters were the pupils at Kingswells Primary School, where Muir was a former student.
Muir added: “I didn’t manage to see any of the stuff on the news when I was away, so coming back I was surprised to see how many people were supporting me.
“The biggest one was when I went back to my old primary school and all the kids were just so excited to meet me – it was pretty incredible.
“To see how inspired they were, it was really lovely.
“I think some of the kids were going to go try snow sports which I was really happy about.”
Looking ahead to 2026
One thing she did miss at the Olympics was the support of her family who she had to keep in touch with over the phone while she was away.
However, she is already looking forward to them being able to watch her compete at the next Winter Olympics with her sights already set on Milano Cortina 2026.
She added: “Usually at the Olympics your family would manage to get out to the event, but with Covid that wasn’t possible.
“It just makes me even more excited for Milan in four years where they’ll be able to come.
“I’ve got a lot of time in between now and them, but I’m definitely looking to go to Milan.
“Over the next four years I’ll be getting more experience, trying some new tricks, and just enjoying my skiing.”