ONE of the golden girls of Scottish sport is turning her back on the game that made her an Olympic gold medallist.
Rhona Martin's curling foursome, who captured the imagination of the nation as they battled towards the historic gold medal at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in February, will never be seen in competitive action again.
Fiona MacDonald, a 27-year-old account manager from Inverness, yesterday announced her decision to retire from the sport as she now wishes to concentrate on her career.
MacDonald, who works for Capital Bank Motor, an arm of the Bank of Scotland, said: ''Having achieved the ultimate in my sport at a relatively young age, I am now keen to focus on other aspects of my life, including my career.''
The youngest member of the team, MacDonald - who is married to Ewan, a former world champion and member of the men's Olympic team - quickly quashed speculation that she was pregnant and promised not to give up the game completely.
''Clearly, our win has enhanced the profile of the sport and, together with the rest of the team, we are invited to participate in events designed to grow it,'' she said.
''As a team we have always been committed to supporting curling, and whenever possible I will participate in demonstration and exhibition games.''
The first of these games takes place in Canada towards the end of the year. The Olympic quartet is among six European teams invited to take part in the inaugural Continental Cup.
MacDonald, who is originally from Ayrshire, added: ''I warned and joked with Ewan that people would jump to the conclusion that I was pregnant, but I am not planning a family yet.''
Before gold in Utah, the former world junior champion had already come close to success since her senior competitive debut in 1999. She was just edged out of the medals at national, European and international level in 2000.
Martin, the team skip, yesterday expressed her disappointment at MacDonald's decision. She said: ''As a team, we are obviously disappointed to lose Fiona. However, we all fully appreciate her reasons for standing down at this stage.''
She also announced that MacDonald's place would be filled by Nancy Murdoch from Lockerbie, who will line up alongside Janice Rankin and Debbie Knox. The appointment makes clear that there is no place in the new line-up for Olympic player Margaret Morton.
Last month, cracks started to appear when Morton claimed that her four team-mates made her feel like an ''outsider''. She said that she and the rest of the team had gone their separate ways in terms of representation by an agent because she felt she was being frozen out of some public appearances.
At the time, the 34-year-old who, as a reserve player took part in the early stages of the competition but was not in the four-strong team that captured gold in the final, said: ''I no longer want to play with them. I don't particularly respect their personalities. We are not the best of friends.''
Since their return from Salt Lake City, the four have signed up with a single publicity agent, to handle a host of sponsorship deals which they have been offered.
It is not clear how much MacDonald will stand to lose following her decision, but one source close to the team said: ''Fiona will lose out on sponsorship money, as she is no longer a member of Martin's team.''
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