He’s the stony-faced sensation looking to win gold for Britain on Saturday evening at the Winter Olympics.
But Team GB’s men’s curling captain Bruce Mouat, 31, has already written his own history after becoming one of the nation’s few elite sportsmen to come out as gay.
Born in Edinburgh, the Scot first picked up the stone and broom at the age of seven, after his father Bob spotted an advertisement in a newspaper for Gogar Park Curling Club.
And while Mouat showed an immense talent for the quirky sport – created in Scotland and played on frozen lochs in the early 16th-century – he felt the truth about his sexuality had been holding him back.
It wasn’t until he broke down in front of a sports psychologist in 2014, and revealed that he was gay, that he became truly liberated on the ice.
Some 12 years on from that challenging time, Mouat is in a flourishing relationship with fitness coach Craig Kyle, and is gunning for his second Olympic medal in Cortina.
Bruce Mouat came out as gay in 2014 and is in a relationship with fitness coach Craig Kyle
Known for his stony-faced performances, Mouat is hoping to lead Britain to gold on Saturday
‘I left school still in the closet and was struggling to feel totally comfortable within my sport,’ Mouat told Team GB’s official channels for his Pride Month in 2023.
‘Curling is a team sport and you have to be comfortable with who you’re playing with, but I didn’t feel that within myself. I thought I was going to be judged, which I guess a lot of LGBT people struggle with when they’re coming out.
‘I wasn’t playing very well, and I wasn’t making the strides in my sport that I wanted to, so I spoke to a sports psychologist and opened up to them. She was actually the first person I ever told.
‘She helped me understand myself and she made me comfortable enough to tell my friends and family – then, eventually, my team-mates.’
Mouat now reflects on that as the moment that ‘flipped my career trajectory’, having gone on to win won two junior championships in Scotland as well as a bronze and gold medal with the country’s junior team in the two years after.
After making it out of the juniors and finding success as a senior curler, Mouat sought out love and matched with Kyle on dating app Tinder in 2021.
And as soon as his now-boyfriend made a curling joke, despite knowing next-to-nothing about the sport, Mouat knew it was love.
‘I think he used a chat-up line of like “how do I break the ice?” in his first couple of messages, so I knew from that point that he was pretty goofy and probably a bit of me,’ the curler told BBC Sport.
Mouat said he met Kyle in 2021 on Tinder and was impressed by his curling chat-up line
Mouat and his rink qualified for the final of the men’s curling after a tense win over Switzerland
‘Since then, he’s absolutely loved curling.’
Kyle, a self-confessed rugby fan initially, is now a member of three curling clubs in Stirling – where he and Mouat live together – and is a ‘massive advocate for the sport’.
‘I watched all of his games religiously and got hooked,’ Mouat’s boyfriend posted on Instagram in the run up to this year’s Olympics.
‘The tension, the excitement, the millimetre precision. It had my nerves wracked but had me itching for more.’
Kyle, though, admitted he really ‘caught the bug’ after watching his boyfriend win a silver medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
‘I decided that I’d have to give it a try,’ he said. ‘I was a natural, well… maybe not. But I loved it and within a matter of weeks Bruce and I were out playing at the Edinburgh pairs together. We won a game too.’
The curler’s boyfriend does not shy away from publicly supporting him and even made a beeline straight onto the ice after Mouat became the first openly gay athlete in the sport to be crowned a world champion in 2023.
‘He gave me the biggest fright of my life,’ Mouat told Team GB.
Mouat and Kyle now live in Stirling together, where Kyle has joined three curling clubs
Mouat began playing curling at the age of seven when his father Bob spotted an advertisement
‘Because I was holding the trophy at the time and it’s quite a valuable thing – I’m sure it’s insured for a lot of money. But he just ran on and gave me the biggest hug!’
He added: ‘There were a lot of special moments that week but having Craig there and being able to celebrate with him really was one of the best.’
Kyle has insisted he will be there all the way for his boyfriend in Cortina, and will be ‘shouting loud and proud for all of Team GB’ as they look to claim gold against Canada.
The Britons booked their spot after a tense semi-final against Switzerland, who had been unbeaten before coming up against Mouat and his rink – including fellow Scots Bobby Lammie, Grant Hardie and Hammy McMillan – on Thursday.
Visibly emotional after the big victory, the skip said he and his team-mates will be targeting ‘our gold medal’ after coming second last time out in Beijing.
‘Oh my god, what’s happened?,’ he said, still shocked in his post-match interview with the BBC.
‘Crazy. So much fun playing in that atmosphere again, our supporters were incredible there,’ Mouat said after the semi-final win.
‘I’ll always continue to say thank you to everyone back home for sending your messages, buying your lottery tickets. All those things really add up to what we are now going to hopefully achieve, and win our gold medal.’
Mouat won a silver medal at the 2022 Winter OIympics and now wants to go one step further
The curler hopes his success as a gay athlete can inspire others to follow in his footsteps
Mouat, who now has two world championship titles after claiming another in 2025, wants to harness his success to inspire other gay people in elite sports.
‘There’s not many out gay men in sport, especially in Great Britain,’ he told the BBC. ‘But I think there’s a sense that I am maybe now a role model and I don’t take that lightly.
‘I’ve had so many messages off people who have maybe struggled with participation in sport, that they’re now encouraged because of what they’ve seen I’ve able to do on the elite side of the sport, I guess.’
He also found himself inducted into the Scottish LGBT+ Hall of Fame in June 2023 and praised curling for being a ‘very inclusive’ sport.
‘I curl for the sake of loving the sport and wanting to achieve a lot within it,’ Mouat said at the time.
‘But it’s really nice to know that younger kids who may be coming through are able to see that an openly gay athlete is able to achieve a lot and that’s exactly what this award means.
‘Curling has always been a very inclusive sport and there is room for growth and there always will be, but it’s always been nice that I’ve always been welcomed in the sport.
‘Hopefully other people who are part of the LGBT+ community can see that and maybe want to come and try the sport, because there’s definitely a very safe space for us to play, whether it’s at recreational or elite level and I would encourage everyone to take up this sport.’
Mouat and his team will play Canada in the men’s curling final at 6.05pm on Saturday.
