The long and punishing COVID-19 shifts challenged every NHS worker but Vicky Wright used them to help her follow her Olympic dream.

The two big things in her life balance each other out.

The curling helps her deal with the stresses of work and the role of a surgical nurse on the frontline kept a sense of perspective in her sport, which she won gold in at the Beijing Olympics.

She was in Canada in early 2020 and described the decision to come home to Scotland and return to full-time nursing at the Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert near Falkirk as a “no-brainer”- as the pandemic swept in she realised she just had to come back and help in any way she could.

So she spent the height of the pandemic on shift in Ward 11B which had been converted into a COVID-19 ward.

To prepare for the Olympics she dropped back down to part-time but was on shift as a recently as early January before flying out to Beijing with her team.

Senior staff nurse Lisa McCann said recently: “The B11 family couldn’t be more proud of Vicky….we can’t wait to brag about working alongside a superstar!”

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Beijing Winter Olympics: Team GB finally win first gold medal as disappointing Games comes to a close

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Like the entire curling team, they will return to Scotland as heroes – the men with silver and the women with gold medals that were last won by Team GB 20 years ago.

Vicky’s fiancee Greg Drummond, who won an Olympic curling silver in Sochi in 2014, told Sky News she had been trying to remain calm all week.

He said: “I give her my advice but whether she listens to it is up to her!”

“I couldn’t be more proud of her and the entire team.”

There is a wedding to plan but Vicky will be back at work soon with that gold medal – it will be quite a reception for the pride of Ward 11B.

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