IT’S amazing how some events just stick in your mind. Depending on your age, let me ask, where were you when JFK was assassinated, or when Michael Jackson died or when Rhona Martin won the Gold Medal in Salt Lake City at the Winter Olympics in 2002, and I am sure you would know the answer.

With Rhona, there was immense excitement back home in my parents’ house as my Dad was so enthralled by what was happening over in Salt Lake City that he, along with so many others in Scotland, stayed up into the wee small hours to watch the final – and they weren’t disappointed. Team Martin picked up the Gold Medal with Martin’s last stone and the rest is consigned to sporting history. They became Great Britain’s first gold medallists in any sport at the Winter Olympics since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, who came first in the ice dancing in the 1984 Winter Olympics.

A little postscript is that in May 2014, Rhona’s Olympic gold medal and other Olympic memorabilia was stolen from a museum in Dumfries, yet to be recovered.

Rhona who retired from the sport in 2004, spent three years doing the UK Sport Elite Coach Programme whilst delivering the Performance Development Coach role within the national governing body for curling, the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. She still commentates on curling and you will hear her dulcet tones on the BBC at the Winter Olympics.

Having had a look back online at this event, Rhona was described as a ‘housewife and mother’ terms that nowadays might bring a raft of protest from various quarters, however when we think about it, that was her role at that time, and an important one at that. I think we should still have the opportunity to choose that role and be respected, male or female. Yet finances often dictate otherwise and the fear of missing out on opportunities to further your career can also have an impact on this decision.

We now have our attention focussed on this year’s Winter Olympics with Team Muirhead, who look to better their medal standing from bronze in 2014 at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The team who comprise Eve Muirhead, Claire Hamilton, Vicki Adams, Anna Sloan and Lauren Gray will join with the other Scots athletes, 18 in total, who are heading to Pyeongchang, South Korea and include Elise Christie, Charlie Guest and Alex Tilley.

I am sure we will be writing some more for the history books, and with the excitement building slowly, it won’t be long before we are metaphorically up to our ears in snow, throwing every stone with them and speeding round every track and down every slope.

This year for International Women’s Day #pressforprogress Scottish Women in Sport will be recognising some of the pioneers who have, to date, perhaps not received the attention that they should have, through their participation in sport. It has been an absolute eye opener for me to find out that so much great work has gone unrecognised and also the amazing feats of our pioneers as they attempted to break down barriers to participate in their chosen sport.

The applications closed last week and the panel met to discuss and select our inductees for year one. Given the number of responses received, it was agreed that we would induct 10 in total, four members who had achieved amazing success during their lifetime, and six current pioneers, who continue to break down barriers and compete in sport.

A lunch is planned – and you’re all welcome to join in – to induct our 10 pioneers into the Scottish Women In Sport Hall of Fame. We are having afternoon tea with an obligatory glass of prosecco, prior to the induction and then afterwards it will be time to let our hair down and have some fun and more prosecco!

Tickets can be sourced from https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sws-pioneers-tickets-41945069833 and the more the merrier.

Many of the pioneers in sport have largely gone unnoticed and this is an opportunity to recognise them and acknowledge the fact their efforts were instrumental in enabling so many of our young girls and women to enjoy sport at all levels today.

Don’t despair if you wanted to submit an application and left it too late, for me this has to be an annual event and that means you have another opportunity next year.