It’s not yet been two months since I announced my retirement but I’ve certainly been kept busy.
As dedicated as I was to the life of a full-time athlete throughout my curling career, I always thought that it would be beneficial to try a few different things away from the ice.
But, as you might expect, more opportunities have opened up now that I’ve got an Olympic gold medal and more time to say ‘yes’.
Media and TV work is definitely going to be part of my post-competing career.
It’s been a real mixed bag of work over the last few weeks.
There’s been getting on a bike for Sport Relief, going back on Question of Sport for the first time in a few years and appearing on A League of Their Own.
Join me for a new week of @C4Countdown, with the amazing @evemuirhead making her debut in dictionary corner! 🥌
She’ll be alongside @susie_dent and @RachelRileyRR at 2.10pm, Monday to Friday on @Channel4 !
Swwwweeeeeepppp!!!! 🥌 pic.twitter.com/pw1tWINQ3J
— colin murray (@ColinMurray) September 26, 2022
And this week some of you might have seen me in dictionary corner on Countdown.
No prizes for guessing which one took me furthest out of my comfort zone!
I bet there weren’t any of my teachers at Pitlochry High School and Morrison’s Academy who would have predicted I’d have ended up on Countdown!
I’ve got nothing but admiration for the contestants who came on.
I used to watch it after school when Carol Vorderman and Richard Whiteley were the presenters.
And I can now say I’ve been part of Countdown history because one of them, Tom, hit a record all-time score of 154!
Some of the words he came up, I’d never heard of and in the maths bit he’d have it done with 10 seconds left to twiddle his thumbs.
I could relax a bit more on A League of Their Own.
They had me piping on the show again and the ‘Curlseye’ bit of it was so much fun.
🎯 Curlseye goes down a treat on tonight’s show 😂 #ALOTO pic.twitter.com/LTeGyfkBVq
— A League of Their Own (@ALOTO) September 29, 2022
Somebody told me it cost them a fortune to set that up.
I was just glad nobody fell on the ice and broke a bone!
What these programmes all had in common is I’ve never met anyone so far who hasn’t been friendly and helpful.
If there’s more TV and media doors that get opened, then great.
I don’t see myself doing just one thing for the rest of my working life but I’d like to think that side of things will be a big part of it.
And if I get an invite to go to Australia for ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ I’m sure I would be able to get over my dislike of rats to accept.
I certainly think I’d be better in the jungle than on the dance floor!
When I heard about the furore after the recent England v India women’s cricket game, I can see why it divided opinion.
By running out Charlie Dean at the bowler’s end, Deepti Sharma was playing by the rules.
And, with the game coming to a conclusion, she could legitimately say that the player whose wicket she took was trying to get an advantage.
But most cricketers seem to think that it was against the spirit of the sport and they’re the best ones to judge.
She should have given a warning first.
It’s like calling a moving ball on yourself in golf or owning up to your broom touching a stone in curling.
Every sport has its own etiquette.
And the fact that the first person to do it in Test cricket has his name used in relation to this type of run-out tells you that mud definitely sticks!
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