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| GBR skip Rhona Martin releases the stone during the Great Britain v Switzerland women's curling gold medal match. |
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| Team Switzerland (front) bronze, Team Canada (middle) silver, Team Norway (rear) gold, receive their medals in the men's curling at the medal awards ceremony at the Olympic Medals Plaza during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. |
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Great Britain and Norway won gold medals in the women's and men's curling tournaments, respectively. Rhona Martin (GBR) defeated Luzia Ebnoether (SUI) 4-3 in the women's gold medal match, while Norway's Paal Trulsen defeated Canada's Kevin Martin 6-5 in the men's gold medal match.
In the bronze medal matches, Kelley Law's Canadian rink defeated Kari Erickson (USA) 9-5 to win the men's bronze.
In the women's draw, Martin declared herself "out" after dropping a 7-5 decision, which sent her to 5-4 overall, to Natalie Nessler (GER) on the morning of February 18 in her last round-robin game. But a Swiss victory over Nessler in the evening session the same day created a three-way tie for fourth place and the last spot in the semifinals. On February 19, Great Britain defeated Elisabet Gustafson's Swedish squad and then Germany in the two tiebreaker games to advance to the medal round as the No. 4 seed.
The British squad then defeated Canada 6-5 and Switzerland defeated the United States 9-4 in the semifinals to earn the right to play for the gold medal, where Great Britain prevailed.
Canada entered the medal round as the top seed after finishing the round-robin 8-1. Law's only loss in round-robin play came at the hands of Ebnoether, 7-6. Ebnoether's Swiss squad finished in second place in the round-robin at 7-2, while Erickson earned the third seed with a 6-3 record heading into the semifinals.
Great Britain, Germany and Sweden tied for fourth at the end of the round-robin with 5-4 records, with Great Britain earning the semifinal berth by winning the two tiebreakers. Norway's Dordi Nordby finished seventh with a 4-5 record. Japan tied Denmark for eighth with 2-7 records, but Akiko Kato's Japanese squad is listed ahead of the Danes in the final standings thanks to her head-to-head victory over Lene Bidstrup (DEN). Olga Jarkova's Russia Federation finished 10th with a record of 1-8.
In the men's draw, Canada and Norway entered the semifinals as the top two seeds. In the Canada-Sweden semifinal, Martin got his revenge on Sweden's fourth-seeded Peja Lindholm, taking three in the first end and never looking back en route to a 6-4 victory. In the Norway-Switzerland semifinal, Paal Trulsen (NOR) trailed 6-3 before he broke through for two in the ninth, stole one in the 10th and wrapped up a great comeback with a terrific draw into cover on his final shot to defeat the third seeds from Switzerland and earn a spot in the final. Norway then took the gold 6-5 when Martin missed a draw on the last rock of the 10th end to give Trulsen the victory.
In round-robin play, Canada posted an 8-1 record, losing only to Sweden, to earn the top position entering the medal round. Norway finished 7-2 and in second position, losing to Switzerland and Canada on its way to the semifinals. Switzerland and Sweden finished in a tie for third place at 6-3, with the Swiss taking the third seed by virtue of their victory over Sweden.
Finland, skipped by Markku Uusipaavalniemi, finished in fifth place with a 4-5 record. Germany's Sebastian Stock finished sixth at 4-5. Ulrik Schmidt (DEN), Hammy McMillan (GBR) and Tim Somerville (USA)finished in a tie for seventh at 3-6, with Denmark being top seventh with head-to-head victories over both Great Britain and the United States and Great Britain being second seventh with its victory over USA. Dominique Dupont Roc (FRA) finished 10th at 0-9.
--Brett Johnson |