Winter Olympics closing ceremony LIVE: Team GB women win first gold medal in curling as Beijing Games end
Follow latest updates from Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 as Team GB chase their first medal of the Games
Great Britain’s women, led by Eve Muirhead, went one better than the men in their gold medal match against Japan at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The men’s team fell short yesterday when Sweden claimed gold to deny Bruce Mouat and his team. Swedish skip Niklas Edin proved too good and repeated their victory over Great Britain in a 2014 semi-final. Muirhead overcame almost impossible odds to steer her women’s curling team into the Olympic final where she completed an incredible journey to finally fulfil an ambition that appeared beyond her after a decade at the top of her sport. Team coach Murdoch put her chances of salvaging victory at “less than 10 per cent” after shipping four shots in a disastrous opening end to defending Olympic champions Sweden, but they clawed back to clinch a thrilling 12-11 victory in an extra end.
In the final, Muirhead guided Great Britain to their first and only gold of the Games, beating Japan 10-3 to claim the joint-biggest margin of victory in a final since the sport was reintroduced in ‘98. With all events now closed and the medals handed out, it only remains for the closing ceremony to take place and the baton to be passed on to Italy.
Follow live coverage from the Winter Olympics below:
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What does having the hammer mean in curling and how do you get it? The rules explained
Winter Olympics: Team GB’s route to the semi-finals
It wasn’t all easy, but Eve Muirhead’s Team GB have made it through to the semi-finals of the women’s curling tournament after advancing from the round-robin phase.
Two defeats in their opening three matches gave the team an uphill task, but they made it through in dramatic fashion by beating ROC and other results going their way.
Now, Muirhead’s side face Sweden. They had an 8-2 win over the Swedes in their round-robin match. Their opponents won every other match in the group phase, however, apart from a defeat to China.
Team GB 5-6 Switzerland
Team GB 8-2 Sweden
Team GB 7-9 South Korea
Team GB 10-5 USA
Team GB 7-2 Denmark
Team GB 3-7 Canada
Team GB 10-4 Japan
Team GB 4-8 China
Team GB 9-4 ROC
Team GB ?-? Sweden
How much does the stone weigh and what is it made of?
The official USA Curling rulebook states that each curling stone cannot be greater than 44 pounds (19.96kg) in weight, and no less than 38 pounds (17.24kg). The handle is included as part of the weight.
The stone’s circumference cannot exceed 36 inches (91.4cm) and cannot exceed 4.5 inches (11.43cm) in height.
The stones are made of a special type of granite, which is found on the island of Ailsa Craig in Scotland.
What are the lights on curling stones?
The lights are a tracking system to ensure the athletes release the stone before the first hog line - the red line at both ends where both teams must release the stone before passing it.
During Team USA’s second game against Italy, Stefania Constantini was penalised with a hogline violation in the sixth end.
A heat sensor is embedded into the ice and will be triggered if your hand continues to hold onto the handle while breaching the line, meaning each stone has batteries to power these sensors.
Failure to release your hand before the line will turn the lights red and that team will be forced to remove it from play.
It rarely happens at this elite level, but such is the pressure at the Winter Olympics, it can occasionally happen.
Winter Olympics: All about the curling
The hammer is a crucial part of curling.
The team that has the hammer is able to throw the final stone of each end, generally a significant advantage, with all other stones thrown and the current scoring situation clear.
Whichever team doesn’t score during an end will get the hammer in the next round - this sometimes causes teams to avoid scoring just a single point, instead preferring to retain the hammer and score more heavily in the next end.
It is retained if neither team scores.
What does having the hammer mean in curling and how do you get it?
Ten nations are competing in each of curling’s three disciplines at the 2022 Winter Olympics
Winter Olympics: All about the curling
Twenty years after Rhona Martin sent down her famous ‘Stone of Destiny’, Great Britain’s men’s curling team have sealed a shot at Olympic gold with a nerve-shredding 8-4 semi-final win over the United States in Beijing.
Martin watched on from her BBC commentary booth as John Shuster’s missed takeout attempt in the final end guaranteed Bruce Mouat’s men a place in the final, where they will meet world champions Sweden on Saturday.
Winter Olympics: Gold medal in biathlon
Johannes Thingnes Boe has won Norway their 15th gold medal of the Winter Olympics after prevailing in the men’s 15km mass start event.
It’s Boe’s fourth gold of the Games, and fifth medal overall, capping a dominant two weeks in the biathlon for Norway.
Boe had a winning margin of 40 seconds over Sweden’s Martin Ponsiluoma and Norway’s Vetle Sjastad Christiansen.
Winter Olympics: Kersten ninth in 1000m
As Thomas Krol won gold to continue the Netherlands’ strong performance in the speed skating in Beijing, Team GB’s Cornelius Kersten finished ninth.
It brings an end to Kersten’s Winter Olympics, after ending Britain’s long wait for a long-track speed skating participant at the Games.
Ninth in the 1000m was his best finish of the three events he was entered in, following 19th in the 1500m and 25th in the 500m.
Winter Olympics: Montell Douglas set to make history for Team GB
Montell Douglas will make history today in Beijing as the first woman to compete in both a summer and winter Games for Great Britain.
Douglas was part of the 4x100m relay team in Beijing in 2008 and returns today in the bobsleigh.
“I’m a big believer in if you can see it, you can achieve it,” Douglas said before flying out to China.
“And I’m hoping now people will see me and go, ‘Oh, gosh, the first British woman wasn’t just a British woman, but the black community will also go, ‘that’s a black person that we can relate to’, especially when they just see winter sport as a white-dominated world.”
Winter Olympics: Krol wins speed skating gold
Thomas Krol of the Netherlands won gold in the men’s speed skating 1000 metres at the Beijing Olympics on Friday.
Laurent Dubreuil of Canada claimed silver and Haavard Holmefjord Lorentzen of Norway took bronze.
Winter Olympics: Build-up ahead of Team GB vs Sweden
“I always say that the round-robin is one competition and the playoffs is another one,” said Muirhead. “There are things we need to reset but I definitely think that as a team, we are a playoffs team.
“We’ve proven that we’re capable of winning that gold medal as a group, so we will go hard tomorrow.”
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