On This Day in Olympic Curling History: Feb. 15

NAGANO 1998

Olympic bronze medals were presented to Sweden’s Elisabet Gustafson, who defeated Great Britain’s Kristy Hay 10-6, and to Norway’s Eigil Ramsfjell, a 9-4 winner over Tim Somerville’s USA.

The last two games marked a tough way for USA’s tournament to end, particularly after the joy from that incredible shot to win the second tiebreaker over Japan.

The Olympic women’s gold medal match saw Canada’s Sandra Schmirler score three and never look back.

While Denmark’s Helena Blach-Lavrsen quickly responded with a deuce, Canada led all the way and created a cushion with back-to-back steals in ends five and six.

The final score was Canada 7, Denmark 5.

Three-time world champion Sandra Schmirler had etched her name in the history books, winning the modern era’s first Olympic curling championship after a 74-year absence.

The men’s final was an unfortunate bust as Switzerland’s Patrick Huerlimann crushed his friend, Canada skip Mike Harris, by a 9-3 score in eight ends.

It was a shocking finish to an otherwise impressive week for the Canadians, and it was described in colourful yet stark terms by lead player George Karrys.

PYEONGCHANG 2018

As competition began on Day 2, Glen Kennedy, the “slightly older and more sophisticated” brother of Canada second Marc Kennedy, wrote a blogpost for The Curling News.

The elder Kennedy described Canada’s cheering contingent – numbering approximately 40 – as they departed for South Korea to support their team.

TORINO 2006

Any previous worries of a split in the Canadian men’s team dynamics were dashed – not only with a solid win over Great Britain, but with “much better relationships on display.”

More details from our correspondent can be read here.

BEIJING 2022

Sweden’s Niklas Edin lost his first match at the Ice Cube to Great Britain’s Bruce Mouat (now 6-1) to fall to 7-1 on the week, while Canada’s Brad Gushue was surprised by ROC’s Sergey Glukhov 7-6 in an extra-end.

The loss dropped the Canadian men to 5-3.

“It's a disappointing game,” said Gushue, the 2006 Olympic champion.

On the women’s side, cracks appeared in USA’s Tabitha Peterson squad as they lost to Silvana Tirinzoni’s Switzerland (6-1) by a 9-6 margin.

The Americans had a 6-4 lead in the eighth end but dropped a stunning four points in the ninth.

Canada’s Jennifer Jones, who started poorly in her Olympic return following gold at Sochi 2014, improved her won/loss record to 3-3.