Hometown: Lockerbie
Sport: Curling
Event: Women
Games: Sochi 2014


Anna Sloan plays third for Eve Muirhead's rink that won World Championship gold in Riga, Latvia, in March. The pair also won gold together at the 2009 and 2011 World Junior Championships.

Anna also skips her own ladies rink winning gold for Great Britain at the 2009 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Poland and the 2011 Winter Universiade in Poland.

She also represented Scotland at the 2011 senior World Championship, skipping a rink that contained fellow Team GB members Claire Hamilton and Vicki Adams, with Muirhead as the alternate.

Between 2011 and 2012, Anna teamed up with her current rink to win the European Championship. She has recently won both the World Championship and Players Championships giving her plenty of confidence for the upcoming Winter Olympic in Sochi, Russia.

The following questions were prepared by students at Baldragon Academy, Dundee.

How/when did you get into curling?

A lot of my family have curled so it was just something I was going to inevitably end up doing. Also the fact that I come from Lockerbie which is a small town with probably not the most to do, however it does have an ice rink next to the school.

What skills do you need to be a good curler?

People might not realise that you need a good level of fitness to curl at a high level, this is due to sweeping and the length of time a game can last for. Also have to have a good level of balance as it is a skill acquisition sport. Finally you need to be able to be one step ahead of your opponent everytime which requires a great deal of tactical knowledge.

How many times a week do you go curling? Have you had to make sacrifices because of time you have to spend curling?

In the winter, when we are not competing, we are on the ice twice a day everyday however in the summer there is only one ice rink open so we are in stirling twice a week. I don't look at it as making sacrifices, sure we miss out on a lot of socialising with our friends when we are not home, however, I feel like I would be missing out on so much more if we didn't work as hard as we could and ensure we make the most of every opportunity given to us.

What does training involve?

We have three strength sessions a week on ice twice a day and cardio every day (usually about eight sessions a week)

Do you take part in other sports? If so which do you enjoy the most and why?

During my school years I played football and every other sport I could, however, my number one sport until curling took over was horse riding which I still love to do today.

Have you ever had any injuries? Were they serious? How did they affect you?

I have broken a lot of bones when I was younger but none serious enough to effect my curling.

What is the most frustrating thing you've endured?

In 2010 we were the favourites to win Scottish Junior title, we didn't perform like we knew we could and we lost the semis. There was a similar situation in 2012 World Championships, we are all perfectionists and the most frustrating thing was when we weren't performing as well as we knew we could. However, looking back I see it as a good thing as it has definitely made us stronger.

Looking ahead to the Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014 - do you need to qualify and if so what does this involve?

GB qualifies through the points that Team Scotland gather at world championships the three years before the Olympics.