He comes to the role with more than 20 years' experience as a performance director at British water polo and England Rugby League, as well as a three-year stint as a performance advisor at UK Sport, and fills the position left vacant by Dave Crosbee, who left for Australia after Sochi 2014.

He also joins at a time when the sport enjoy increased funding for all three programmes following their success at the last Winter Games, where the men claimed a silver medal, and the women and wheelchair teams secured bronze to contribute to Britain's most successful Winter Olympics since 1924.

"I am delighted to be taking up the position of performance director of the Scottish and British Curling Performance Programme," Thompson said.

"The success achieved by the athletes in Sochi was tremendous.

"It has provided a very good basis for further developing our programme into the next Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018, and beyond, as we seek to continually demonstrate being one of the foremost global curling nations."

Claire Hamilton, Vicki Adams, Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan and Lauren Gray celebrate their curling bronze medal at Sochi 2014 ©Getty Images


Mike Whittingham, director of high performance at the sportscotland institute of sport, welcomed Thompson's appointment and said his "style and experience" will help drive the programme forward.

"Winter sports, and in particular curling, are hugely important to Scotland and so it was important we found the right candidate to lead this highly successful sport," he added.

"I know he is relishing the opportunity of working alongside a well-recognised international team."

New British Curling chair Willie Nicol said his organisation is "looking forward to working with Graeme over the next four years and building on the excellent results from Sochi".

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