“A real shitstorm, and we haven’t managed it”
Swedish skip Niklas Edin, who made history in Cortina d’Ampezzo amid his first “horrible week” in five Olympic competitions, was asked about his future plans after a 9-4 loss to front-running Switzerland.
“It’s not normal for us to miss the playoffs, and this is just nowhere near playoffs,” Edin said. “We’re fighting not to be last in this event now.
“I don’t know if we’re prepared for how to handle the situation. It feels empty, and (it’s) hard to enjoy the other sports. We’re sitting down in meetings trying to figure out how we can do this better, so maybe we shouldn’t do that for the next game. Just get some rest, watch some of the other sports, try and relax and play decent curling.”
The legend was asked about the fateful match between Sweden and Canada five days earlier.
“We usually don’t ever have conflicts with any teams out there. We kind of agree with all the teams. But this time, obviously, it turned into a real shitstorm, and we haven’t managed it.
Anil Mungal • The Curling News“I never thought we’d see screaming and yelling out on the ice during an Olympics. It’s not the right place. We have a lot of friends and families and millions of viewers and stuff. Or billions of viewers, really. So that was very unexpected, a very strange thing.
“It’s tough to deal with. We maybe should have done something different and could have dealt with it differently, too.
“It would have been nice to just blank our minds and forget about it. But that was easier said than done. So a little lack of sleep, a little lack of focus on the right things, and it turned into a horrible week.”
“If we could turn back time, I think it would have been a lot better to just keep (ignoring) what’s happening out there. They, I guess, have practised that way and feel it's an okay way to throw the rock. And we don’t.
“Almost all the other teams here have thanked us for speaking up. It’s something that almost every team out there has thought about and talked about, but maybe not the way we did, not confronting someone in the heat of the moment.”
Massive sit-down
“We’ll have a massive sit-down, talk through everything. It’s been a long run. Me and Oskar (third Eriksson) have been on the same team for, I think, 17 years now. So we’ll see what happens.
“It’s not an easy decision for any of us, and obviously it’s a team decision, too. So we’ve got to listen in on everyone and see if it’s still fun to curl, (to see) if we still realistically think we have a chance four years from now. If not, then it might not be worth it.
“We’re sacrificing a lot on the personal level to do this. Obviously, a team from Sweden doesn't basically make any money doing this, so it’s kind of more for the enjoyment of the thing. And if that part disappears or goes down to not making up for everything else, then it’s definitely not going to be worth it.
“So we’re going to have to see if we still think it’s enjoyable to do this.”