Whyte carries Olympic frustration into world title tilt
Ross Whyte is relishing the chance to represent Scotland at a World Curling Championship after his rink were left frustrated by the quirks of Winter Olympics rules.
The Winter Olympics were a frustrating watch for Ross Whyte. Not only did he have to share the pain of some of his closest friends and British Curling colleagues missing out on their dream of gold but he was also denied the chance to be there himself. As the alternate for Team Mouat at the 2022 Games, he knows how it feels to stand on the podium with a silver medal around his neck.
But he also knows that his own Team Whyte would have been medal contenders themselves in Cortina in February had they been permitted to compete. At the time, Scotland's second-best rink were ranked the third best in the world. Earlier in the season, only Team Mouat were above them.
Another Scottish rink, Team Waddell - whose skip, Kyle, took on Olympic alternate duties this time - are also in the top 10. But rules dictating that each country can only enter one curling team in the Olympics stymied what would have been genuine Olympic medal hopes. "It's hard to see other nations there when you know you're better than their team," Whyte told BBC Sport Scotland.
"Some of them were potentially ranked about 20th in the world and, at the time, we were third. "You see some podiums that have Norway or Germany one, two and three in a certain sport. But you're just sitting there at home.