The British men’s curling team has advanced to the final, where they will compete for at least silver.
Men’s Curling USA vs Great Britain
Nearly two weeks had passed. After some heartbreaking losses and a lot of disappointment, Team GB has secured their first medal of these Winter Games.
The British men’s curling team won the semi-final after a nail-biting 10th and final end, 8-4, against the United States. This quartet will play Sweden in the final on Saturday, guaranteeing them at least a silver medal before they depart Beijing.
Squad captain Bruce Mouat yelled so loudly after the final whistle that he could be heard all the way in Scotland, where the team regularly trains. The vast group of Team GB employees who showed up to show their support felt the same way.
My reaction, the scream at the end, was an attempt to let out pent-up stress and tension, Mouat said. And it’s great that I’ll be into the gold medal match with these men at my side.
The rest of the British team, including Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, and Hammy McMillan, were ecstatic as well, especially after coming back from a two-point deficit to defeat the defending Olympic champions, the United States.
The British team now has the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Rhona Howie and later Rhona Martin, who notably won Team GB’s only curling gold medal in 2002 after throwing the “stone of destiny” at the Salt Lake Games.
As Mouat put it, “it was such a Tremendous Occasion for Curling back Home.”
We’d love to figure out how to make something similar. We can get close to having a moment like that if we play the game we’ve been playing all week.
Curling coach David Murdoch cited a shot by Mouat in the ninth end, with the score was tied at 5-5, as being the deciding factor. He remarked, “No shot in the ninth end has more pressure.” The quality of that was simply astounding.
He continued, “And this team is the most prepared curling team in the world.” I have no reason to dispute the shape they are in at the moment.
I am behind Bruce Mouat, I am telling you that, if they play to their capabilities, especially in a game like that where you have to grind it out and trust that we can hit that last shot to win the game.
Murdoch, who won Silver at the Sochi Olympics, Choked up as he Spoke.
He went on to say that it was “exciting” for a number of reasons. We’ve trained hard, and now we have a chance for an Olympic gold medal. This is exactly why we plan on being present. It’s going to be the greatest game ever, and we can’t wait!
As a result, he is daydreaming of bringing home Britain’s first curling gold medal in 20 years. Isn’t that great, he asked rhetorically? That’s a good sign that I spotted Rhona waving from the crowd. I’m crossing my fingers that she’ll be able to deliver us that fateful stone.
Meanwhile, the women’s curling team from Great Britain surprised everyone by advancing to the semifinals earlier on Thursday, raising the possibility that another British medal will soon emerge from these Games.
Even though Eve Muirhead’s team struggled in the group stage, they made it to the playoffs thanks to a miraculous final round of outcomes and the curling equivalent of goal difference.
First, Muirhead’s group won a Resounding 9-4 Victory over the Russian Olympic Committee.
But winning that round was just half the battle; they also needed the other outcomes to go their way so that they would finish in a three-way tie for the last two qualifying berths.
However, Team GB came out on top over Japan and Canada in the draw-shot challenge, which is based on the average accuracy of each team’s last stone draw throughout all matches.
To Defeat Russia was my top Priority, and I was Aware of that.
That was our top aim, and I contributed everything I had to it,” said Muirhead, whose side will meet Sweden in the semifinals. After three hours of intense focus, “I won’t lie, I had one eye gazing over at the other games.”
‘We knew we needed three results to go our way,’ she continued. There was more than a remote likelihood of that happening because all of the top-ranked teams had to win on paper. But this morning when we woke up, I was nervous just like the other girls.
