Curling medals spare Team GB blushes

EVE MUIRHEAD achieved her lifetime ambition as she led the Team GB women's curling team to a first Olympic gold at the Games in 20 years.

Muirhead, in her fourth Olympic appearance, matched the success of Rhona Howie in 2002 with a comprehensive victory in the Final against Japan on Sunday.

Coincidentally, there were similarities between the two campaigns. In 2002, Howie - then with the surname Martin - needed other results to go in her favour to lead her team to the knockout stages.

This time, the Muirhead rink also held a 5-4 record and required both Sweden and Switzerland to win to progress via the Draw Shot Challenge.

If that was not enough to shred the nerves of the British curling community, then the epic semi final against the Swedes certainly was.

It all started horribly as Sweden took four from the first end - but a thankfully rapid response of three allowed the Britain to play their way into the contest.

Still 8-7 down in the ninth but with the hammer, Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds, and Hailey Duff then produced a brilliant series of shots.

The penultimate end culminated in a fantastic tap shot from British skip Muirhead to register an amazing four - and an out-of-the-blue three-score lead.

But Sweden refused to go quietly - and their skip Anna Hasselborg executed a perfect take out to score three and make it 11-11.

Deep breaths were required for the extra end - but the British curlers, with the hammer, held their nerve well - and, in a ridiculously high-scoring match, kept the house clear for Muirhead to draw to the button for a 12-11 triumph. 

To some relief, the Final was a far more straightforward affair as Britain immediately took charge with an early two then stole a point in the fifth end to lead 4-1 at the halfway stage.

Japan were forced to settle for one point only in the sixth end before Muirhead broke the back of the match with a brilliant four in the seventh.

Olympic curling finals must contain at least eight ends so Japan were obliged to continue - but, after again being forced to take just one from the eighth, they briefly considered a concession.

At 8-3 with a potential two ends left, there was seemingly just enough life left in the contest.

However, another well-constructed end in the ninth left Team GB well in the clear - and the emotional celebrations could begin.

Meanwhile, the men's curling team also brought home a medal from the Ice Cube venue, taking silver after a tough 5-4 defeat to Sweden in a Final which required an extra end.

That was a real shame for Bruce Mouat's rink who had dominated the competition up until then. Britain lost just once in the round robin stage to the United States - and overcame the Americans in the semi final anyway.

Both of Britain's knockout matches in the men's competition were extremely tactical encounters with opportunities for scoring quickly shut off.

In the semi final, the United States - trailing 5-4 - blanked the sixth, seventh and eighth ends to retain the hammer throughout the second half of the match.

The Americans were also trying to blank the ninth to the carry the hammer into the final end but allowed to Britain to steal one before further errors from the United States in the 10th decided the contest for certain.

If anything, the Final was even tighter - with only one single instance of a team taking two shots throughout the whole match when Sweden scored in the second end.

Sweden blanked the fifth and sixth ends, and tried to continue the run beyond that. However, Britain stole a point to level the scores in the seventh end then forced Sweden to take only one from the eighth.

With no clear way to scoring two, Britain blanked the ninth end - but had no choice other than to take only one point from the 10th end to level the score 4-4.

Sweden had the hammer for the extra end - and, having again reduced the scoring opportunities through their lethal take-outs, used it to full advantage to draw into the button for victory.

It was truly an agonising defeat for Britain's men - but they did at least take a well-deserved place on the podium.

Beyond curling, though, there were no other medals for Team GB as the 2022 cohort fell short of the pre-Games target set by UK Sport of between three and seven medals.

Certainly, it feels like a step backwards after the previous two Winter Olympics in Sochi (2014) and Pyeonchang (2018) delivered five medals on both occasions.

In response, UK Sport chief Sally Munday said: "I think you probably liken us to a wounded lion.

"We'll lick our wounds, we'll work out what needs to be different and we will come back fighting and roaring for Milan-Cortina (in 2026)."

Fighting talk - and, in fairness to UK Sport and the Olympians themselves, this has not been an easy cycle for a non-alpine country like the United Kingdom.

Undoubtedly, the impact of COVID-19 has been a big factor.  Around 60% of Britain’s 50-strong squad spend large parts of their year abroad so less time to train on snow and ice due to travel restrictions has inevitably hurt Team GB medal prospects.

By contrast, curling is such a part of Scottish heritage that even the granite stones used in competition all come from Aisla Craig, an uninhabited island off the coast of Ayrshire.

Rather more pertinently, Muirhead, Mouat and their teams were able to train at a bespoke venue in Stirling.

Nevertheless, Team GB bosses have got wounds to lick.

Skeleton had delivered at least one medal for Britain at every Winter Olympics since its reintroduction to the Games at Salt Lake City in 2002.

For sure, double Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold has now retired - but Laura Deas, who was on the track in Beijing, won bronze in 2018 and is a far better athlete than her 19th-placed finish suggested. Instead, questions must be asked of the equipment used by Team GB.

After all, a nation famed for its prowess in the research and development surely can come up with something better than the pile of junk which the four British sliders had to endure at these Games.

Furthermore, the appropriate allocation of funds to the right areas was highlighted by the impressive showing by the self-funded Team GB quartet in the four-man bobsleigh.

Pilot Brad Hall, Nick Gleeson, Greg Cackett and Taylor Lawrence finished in an extremely creditable sixth place having been required to resort to a crowdfunding campaign.

Gleeson said: "Everything we have gone through, everything we have had to do, everything we've had to sacrifice, top six is like a medal for us.

"I really hope UK Sport take a long, hard look at us. We've beaten a whole host of nations with a significantly bigger budget."

Outside of the Team GB sphere, the Olympic medal table was dominated - once again - by Norway, already the most successful Winter Olympics nation of all.

The Norwegians topped the standings for the second time in a row - and the ninth time in history - with 16 gold medals, eight silver, and 13 bronze.

However, the biggest story of the Games involved Russia which again officially represented their Olympic Committee - rather than their flag - due to a ruling in December 2020 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

That followed the exposure of a state-sanctioned doping programme - but, disgracefully although equally unsurprisingly, that measure does not seem to have made the slightest bit of difference.

On day seven of these Games, a doping scandal erupted yet again in the Russian camp when 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva was revealed to have tested positive in a drugs test which had taken place six weeks prior to the start of the Games.

Traces of trimetazidine, a cardiovascular agent banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), had been found in the sample provided by Valieva.

The teenager blamed a mix-up with medication taken by her grandfather - but, with the investigation still ongoing, CAS did not suspend Valieva.

It was a bizarre decision which was out of line with the usual protocol - and, sadly, her ongoing competitive responsibilities had a devastating effect on a vulnerable youngster.

Skating in the ladies' singles, Valieva fell twice during her routine and dropped out of the medals having previously been top of the standings in the short programme.

Valieva left the ice in tears - but, incredibly, there was little sympathy forthcoming from her coach Eteri Tutberidze who was immediately critical of her performance.

Depressingly, for many viewers around the world, that became the iconic image of these Games.

Now, this 24th edition of the Winter Olympics was hardly without controversy even before the torch was lit at the Opening Ceremony.

At best, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was ambivalent to the high-profile reports of human rights abuses in China - and, quite frankly, everything about these Games from the hosts felt cold in the completely wrong way for a Winter Olympics.

Already, the visit to Milan-Cortina in 2026 sounds like it is going to be more fun.

Of course, Great Britain has sent a team to every Olympic Games - both the summer and winter versions - and so, it was only right that, despite understandable reservations and a high-profile diplomatic boycott, Team GB still sent a squad to Beijing.

Muirhead, for one, is certainly pleased with the decision - and no one encapsulates the Olympic spirit better than the 31-year-old from the Fair City of Perth.

A gold medal, following an Olympic career spanning more than a decade, is finally hers at last. 

TEAM GB SQUAD

• Alpine skiing Billy Major, Dave Ryding, Alexandra Tilley, Charlie Guest
• Bobsleigh Brad Hall, Nick Gleeson, Greg Cackett, Taylor Lawrence, Mica McNeill, Montell Douglas
• Cross-country skiing Andrew Musgrave, Andrew Young, James Clugnet
• Curling
  [Men] Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, Hammy McMillan Jr., Ross Whyte 
  [Women] Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jennifer Dodds, Hailey Duff, Mili Smith
• Figure skating Natasha McKay, Lilah Fear, Lewis Gibson
• Freestyle skiing Lloyd Wallace, James Woods, Gus Kenworthy, Isabel Atkin, Kirsty Muir, Katie Summerhayes, Zoe Atkin, Will Feneley, Leonie Gerken-Schofield, Makayla Gerken-Schofield, Oliver Davies
• Luge Rupert Staudinger
• Short-track speed skating Farrell Treacy, Niall Treacy, Kathryn Thomson
• Skeleton Matt Weston, Marcus Wyatt, Brogan Crowley, Laura Deas
• Snowboarding Katie Ormerod, Huw Nightingale, Charlotte Bankes
• Speed skating Cornelius Kersten, Ellia Smedling

CURLING Women's competition

	Skip	W	L	DSC	Team GB results
(Q) Switzerland (SUI)	Silvana Tirinzoni	8	1	19.14	L5-6
(Q) Sweden (SWE)	Anna Hasselborg	7	2	25.02	W8-2 | W12-11 (SF)
(Q) Great Britain (GBR)	Eve Muirhead	5	4	35.27	-
(Q) Japan (JPN)	Satsuki Fujisawa	5	4	36.00	W10-4 | W10-3 (F)
Canada (CAN)	Jennifer Jones	5	4	45.44	L3-7
United States (USA)	Tabitha Peterson	4	5	33.87	W10-5
China (CHN)	Han Yu	4	5	30.06	L4-8
South Korea (KOR)	Kim Eun-jung	4	5	27.79	L7-9
Denmark (DEN)	Madeleine Dupont	2	7	23.36	W7-2
Russia (ROC)	Alina Kovaleva	1	8	29.34	W9-4

CURLING Men's competition

	Skip	W	L	DSC	Team GB results
(Q) Great Britain (GBR)	Bruce Mouat	8	1	18.81	-
(Q) Sweden (SWE)	Niklas Edin	7	2	14.02	W7-6 | L4-5 (F)
(Q) Canada (CAN)	Brad Gushue	5	4	26.49	W5-2
(Q) United States (USA)	John Shuster	5	4	32.29	L7-9  | W8-4 (SF)
China (CHN)	Ma Xiuyue	4	5	23.55	W7-6
Norway (NOR)	Steffen Waldstad	4	5	20.96	W8-3
Switzerland (SUI)	Peter De Cruz	4	5	15.74	W6-5
Russia (ROC)	Sergey Glukhov	4	5	33.72	W8-6
Italy (ITA)	Joel Retornaz	3	6	30.76	W7-5
Denmark (DEN)	Mikkel Krause	1	8	32.84	W8-2

MEDAL TABLE Beijing 2022 Olympics

Pos		G	S	B	TOTAL
1	NORWAY (NOR)	16	8	13	37
2	GERMANY (GER)	12	10	5	27
3	CHINA (CHN)	9	4	2	15
4	UNITED STATES (USA)	8	10	7	25
5	SWEDEN (SWE)	8	5	5	18
6	NETHERLANDS (NED)	8	5	4	17
7	AUSTRIA (AUT)	7	7	4	18
8	SWITZERLAND (SUI)	7	2	5	14
9	RUSSIAN OLYMPIC TEAM (ROC)	6	12	14	32
10	FRANCE (FRA)	5	7	2	14
11	CANADA (CAN)	4	8	14	26
12	JAPAN (JPN)	3	6	9	18
13	ITALY (ITA)	2	7	8	17
14	SOUTH KOREA (KOR)	2	5	2	9
15	SLOVENIA (SLO)	2	3	2	7
16	FINLAND (FIN)	2	2	4	8
17	NEW ZEALAND (NZL)	2	1	0	3
18	AUSTRALIA (AUS)	1	2	1	4
19	GREAT BRITAIN (GBR)	1	1	0	2
20	HUNGARY (HUN)	1	0	2	3
21	BELGIUM (BEL)	1	0	1	2
21	CZECH REPUBLIC (CZE)	1	0	1	2
21	SLOVAKIA (SVK)	1	0	1	2
24	BELARUS (BLR)	0	2	0	2
25	SPAIN (ESP)	0	1	0	1
25	UKRAINE (UKR)	0	1	0	1
27	ESTONIA (EST)	0	0	1	1
27	LATVIA (LAT)	0	0	1	1
29	POLAND (POL)	0	0	1	1

Yarnold shines brightest in record British haul

2018 WINTER OLYMPICS

PYEONGCHANG

TEAM GB MEDAL WINNERS

		GOLD
1	17-Feb	Lizzy YARNOLD	Skeleton	Women's event
		BRONZE
1	16-Feb	Dominic PARSONS	Skeleton	Men's event
2	17-Feb	Isabel ATKIN	Freestyle skiing	Women's slopestyle
3	17-Feb	Laura DEAS	Skeleton	Women's event
4	24-Feb	Billy MORGAN	Snowboarding	Men's big air

SKELETON racer Lizzy Yarnold became the first ever British athlete to retain a Winter Olympics title in a truly historic Games for Team GB overall.

Yarnold clocked a track record of 51.46 in the fourth and final run to jump from third place into a commanding lead ahead of Janine Flock of Austria and Jacqueline Loelling of Germany.

Flock, under pressure, then floundered on her final run, and she found herself knocked off the podium by consistent Welsh Olympic debutant Laura Deas.

And so, what had begun as a promising morning for Team GB had turned into a seriously momentous occasion for British winter sport.

It was, in fact, easily its best day ever - a Winter Olympics version of Super Saturday.

For, not only did Team GB have its first ever two-time Winter Olympic champion, it could also celebrate a double appearance on the same podium for the first time ever at a Winter Games.

Moreover, Izzy Atkin had won an earlier bronze in the women's freestyle skiing slopestyle, and so 17 February was the first time that Britain had won three Winter Games medals on the same day.

Aged just 19, Atkin was the youngest member of the 59-strong British squad which set off for South Korea.

But, as we also saw from the freestyle skiers and snowboarders of several other countries, her teenage years were no barrier to success.

Instead, it probably assisted her, and she certainly displayed an awesome youthful fearlessness in her last run on which she made her medal-winning score of 84.60.

By then, of course, Britain was already on the board through yet another skeleton medal.

For the first time, though, the winner was male as Dominic Parsons picked up a deserved bronze with his own brilliant demonstration of consistency. In three of his four runs, including the vital last run, 30-year-old Londoner Parsons placed in third.

Sadly, in the curling, the same consistency was lacking, however - as both men and women's teams came away empty-handed.

The inexperienced men's team - under young skip Kyle Smith - was especially skittish, winning five and losing four of their round robin games to be forced into a playoff against Switzerland.

In the playoff, Smith and his men were ultimately outclassed, as the Swiss took a five in the ninth end for a 9-5 victory.

The women - under bronze medal-winning skip Eve Muirhead - fared somewhat better, winning six of their nine group games to qualify for a semi final against Sweden.

However, what had been a tight match against the Swedes turned decisively against Muirhead's rink in the seventh end when she gave up a three despite having the hammer.

Eventually, Team GB lost 10-5 and, for the second Olympics in a row, had been consigned to the bronze final.

That match - against Japan - was an even closer tussle, and in fact went down to the last stone of the final end.

Trailing by one but with the hammer, Muirhead had the chance to make a two to win the match and a medal.

But a single Japanese stone jammed and stuck steadfastly to the button in the centre of the house.

The risky shot was exactly the sort of moment which encapsulates an Olympic campaign - and perhaps, this time, it was just never meant to be.

Clearly, it was not meant to be for short track speed skater Elise Christie either.

For, rather than providing redemption as suggested in my preview blog, Pyeongchang ultimately added to the pain and disappointment she suffered in Sochi four years ago.

Christie herself was not entirely blameless - it does not take a speed skating expert to see that she left herself with far too much to do heading into the last corner in the 1500m semi finals.

But, having already crashed to the ice during the final of the 500m, her tangle of skates with China's Li Jinyu led to an even more painful exit on a stretcher.

Considering that, it was heartening to see Christie still make an attempt at her best event - the 1000m - despite not being fully fit.

Again, though, it all ended in tears after she was penalised in her heat, although the judges' decision on that occasion looked extremely harsh.

Christie subsequently had to contend with some mean-spirited criticism of her performances, much of which was hardly constructive.

But, for a sport in Pyeongchang far more deserving of censure, look no further than the British bobsleigh teams.

Despite suggesting they had two sleds capable of reaching the podium, both British four-man teams completely failed to deliver, finishing way down the field in 17th and 18th.

Earlier, the two-man sled finished 12th - and so the crowdfunded two-woman bob of Mica McNeill and Mica Moore placed highest of all the Team GB entrants, despite them having had their funding cut entirely.

The collective failure in bobsleigh left it uncertain whether Britain could win a record fifth medal at these Games after all.

But, on cue, snowboarder Billy Morgan stepped up and took bronze on his final run with a score of 85.50.

Morgan once again encapsulated the risk-taking required at the Olympics by going for glory with his final jump.

Thankfully, he judged it just right and landed a front-side 1440 triple with mute and tail-grab, something which he had never successfully done in competition before.

Britain - at last - could celebrate a historic fifth medal, and its total of nine in the last two Games is as many as in the nine Winter Olympics before that.

"These athletes can rightly return home very proud of what they accomplished here in South Korea," said Britain's chef de mission Mike Hay.

"To leave Pyeongchang with five medals - our best ever Games in that respect - and a host of fourth-place finishes and top 10s across the sports shows that winter sport in the United Kingdom is going in the right direction," he added.

Away from Team GB, this was an even more glorious Games for Norway who topped the medal table for the first time since 2002 with a record haul of 39 medals, including 14 gold.

Cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen contributed five of those 39 medals, including two gold, as she finished on the podium in each of her five events to become the most decorated Winter Olympian ever.

Nevertheless, the Norwegians have attributed their overall success to their genuine team camaraderie which is reinforced by tacos on a Friday night and a strict “no idiots” rule.

Germany also won 14 gold medals to take second place - and, along with third-placed Canada, won medals across nine different disciplines.

The breadth of their success allowed the Canadians, in particular, to cover for their shock failure to win curling medals of any sort in both the men's and women's events.

Canada also surprisingly struggled in the ice hockey - failing to take gold in either the men's or women's tournaments for the first time since the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan.

Instead, the Olympic Athletes from Russia won the men's final, 4-3 in overtime against surprise package Germany. In the women's final, United States beat Canada on penalty shots.

That victory will provide some consolation to the Americans who finished down in fourth in the medal table for the second successive Winter Games.

Indeed, their overall total of 23 medals this time means Pyeongchang 2018 is their weakest performance at the Winter Olympics for 20 years. There were, however, first ever golds in cross-country skiing and in the men's curling.

Elsewhere, snowboarder Shaun White recovered from his disappointment of four years ago in Sochi to deliver gold - while Lindsey Vonn closed off her Olympic career with a bronze in the downhill.

It is perhaps appropriate that Vonn has chosen these Games to be her last. Pyeongchang 2018 has been particularly notable for the way the torch has passed onto a completely new generation of winners.

Snowboarder Chloe Kim took gold in the women’s halfpipe at the age of just 17 - and then there is compatriot and fellow snowboarder Red Gerard who is two months younger than Kim.

Right at the start of the Games, Gerard became the first Winter Olympics medallist to have been born in the 2000s with gold in the men's slopestyle competition.

But it is not just the Americans who are discovering new talent.

New Zealand had only won one Winter Olympics medal before these Games but has now tripled its overall tally to three, thanks to two teenagers.

The Kiwis' two bronze medals were won by Zoi Sadowski-Synnott in the women's snowboarding big air and by Nico Porteous in the men's ski halfpipe.

Porteous, at 16 years 91 days, and Sadowski-Synnott, at 16 years 353 days, thus became the New Zealanders' two youngest ever Olympic medallists in one fell swoop.

Finally, in figure skating, there was a major shock as 15-year-old Alina Zagitova capped her meteoric ascent with an Olympic title in the women's singles.

Zagitova beat compatriot Evgenia Medvedeva to win one of only two gold medals for the Olympic Athletes from Russia team which, regretfully, otherwise remained mired in doping controversy.

Personally, my moment of the 2018 Winter Olympics came courtesy of Ester Ledecká who will now be forever remembered as the skiing snowboarder.

Ledecká, as expected, was victorious at the weekend on her snowboard in the parallel giant slalom.

A week earlier, however, the 22-year-old Czech also won gold in an alpine skiing event, the Super-G, to the total astonishment of everyone including visibly herself.

Incredibly, Ledecká finished 0.01 seconds ahead of the defending Olympic champion Anna Veith, who had already been proclaimed the winner by many media outlets.

And, following her victory in the snowboarding, she became the first ever woman to win gold in two different disciplines at the same Winter Olympics.

Ledecká, more than any other athlete in Pyeongchang, therefore summed up the true glory of all Olympic Games.

Yes, as a magical event in which anything can happen, the Olympics are - and will always be - something which no other sporting competition can match.

MEDAL TABLE Final standings

Rank	Country	G	S	B	Total
1	Norway (NOR)	14	14	11	39
2	Germany (GER)	14	10	7	31
3	Canada (CAN)	11	8	10	29
4	United States (USA)	9	8	6	23
5	Netherlands (NED)	8	6	6	20
6	Sweden (SWE)	7	6	1	14
7	South Korea (KOR)	5	8	4	17
8	Switzerland (SUI)	5	6	4	15
9	France (FRA)	5	4	6	15
10	Austria (AUT)	5	3	6	14
11	Japan (JPN)	4	5	4	13
12	Italy (ITA)	3	2	5	10
13	Athletes from Russia (OAR)	2	6	9	17
14	Czech Republic (CZE)	2	2	3	7
15	Belarus (BLR)	2	1	0	3
16	China (CHN)	1	6	2	9
17	Slovakia (SVK)	1	2	0	3
18	Finland (FIN)	1	1	4	6
19	Great Britain & NI (GBR)	1	0	4	5
20	Poland (POL)	1	0	1	2
21	Hungary (HUN)	1	0	0	1
21	Ukraine (UKR)	1	0	0	1
23	Australia (AUS)	0	2	1	3
24	Slovenia (SLO)	0	1	1	2
25	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	0	1
26	New Zealand (NZL)	0	0	2	2
26	Spain (ESP)	0	0	2	2
28	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	0	0	1	1
28	Latvia (LAT)	0	0	1	1
28	Liechtenstein (LIE)	0	0	1	1

Korea opportunities

GREAT BRITAIN has sent its biggest ever Winter Olympics squad to South Korea - and it also stands a good chance of being its best ever too.

Four years ago in Sochi, Team GB equalled its best Winter Games performance with one gold, one silver and two bronze.

And, despite being a non-Alpine nation with little winter sports pedigree, there are realistic hopes of the team going at least one better at Pyeongchang 2018.

The official target, set by governing body UK Sport, is indeed for five medals to be won - and skeleton and curling would be two of the more obvious places to find British success.

In fact, since the tea-tray sport skeleton was re-introduced into the Olympics in 2002, Team GB has always won a medal in the women's competition.

Alex Coomber won bronze in Salt Lake City in 2002, four years before Shelley Rudman took silver in Turin, and eight years before Amy Williams became the first British individual gold medallist at a Winter Olympics for 30 years.

Lizzy Yarnold ensured we would not have to wait as long for the next individual Winter Olympic title with a dominant victory in the same event in Sochi.

Flagbearer Yarnold will defend her title in Pyeongchang alongside Laura Deas, while Dominic Parsons and Jerry Rice will partake in the men's competition.

Curling - with its instantly recognisable combination of brushes and polished granite stones - has also supplied its fair share of success in recent Games.

In Sochi, both the men's team and the women's team finished on the podium with the men taking silver and the women winning bronze.

Further back - in 2002 - housewife Rhona Martin famously caused a national sensation in the wee hours by leading Team GB to its first Winter Olympics gold since Torvill and Dean in 1984.

Of course, this time, it might just be that Britain cannot claim a medal in either skeleton or curling.

Winter sports, by their very nature, are highly unpredictable - and that certainly is something which short-track speed skater Elise Christie does not need to be told twice.

Christie, frankly, suffered a nightmare Games four years ago in Sochi. First, she was penalised in the 500m final, in which she had finished second, as she was deemed to have caused an early crash.

Then, two days later, she was eliminated in the qualifiers of the 1500m when she was adjudged to have failed to cross the official line marked in the ice. She was wide by 1cm.

An understandably emotional television interview followed in which a devastated Christie mentioned that she had also been the target of abuse from internet trolls.

Many of her abusers were Korean followers of Park Seung-hi who had been one of the skaters caught up in the early chaos in the 500m final.

But, with all of that now consigned to the past, Christie is back for a third Olympics at the age of just 27.

The Nottingham-based Scot is part of a five-strong short-track speed-skating squad - and happily, in the intervening period in South Korea, she has gone from receiving death threats to giving out autographs.

Hopefully, in the days to come, her remarkable redemption story will be completed in style - and in Korea itself.

In all, Team GB sent a total of 59 athletes to the Games in Pyeongchang so there is the exciting possibility that Britain may even break new ground.

Notably, Britain has never won a ski medal but freestyle skiers James Woods and Izzy Atkin could make history in slopestyle.

Slalom specialist Dave Ryding finished second in the Kitzbuhel World Cup last year and has recorded top 10 results this season - while, in cross-country skiing, Andrew Musgrave just missed out on a medal at the World Championships.

Snowboarding makes its debut as an Olympic sport at these Games - but already Britain's best hope has been dashed with Katie Ormerod unable to compete after fracturing her heel in practice.

It is a heart-breaking injury for the 20-year-old especially with it coming merely hours before the official opening of the 23rd edition of the Winter Olympiad.

Yes, it really is that close now - a fact which will no doubt gladden the hearts of the the organisers of the Games for whom the build-up has been unsurprisingly difficult.

Even the weather gods have not been particularly kind. Pyeongchang is set to be the coldest Olympics on record with wind chill temperatures in the mountains making it feel as chilly as -25C.

Indeed, there are genuine fears that it might even be too cold to snow - although organisers are prepared with snow guns which can produce the white stuff artificially albeit at a total cost of £4.4m.

Perhaps inevitably, sports and politics have also mixed - and the prelude to the Games has been dominated by the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban the Russia team.

The ban followed an investigation into state-sponsored doping at their home Games in Sochi in 2014. However, the IOC subsequently invited 169 "clean" Russians to compete as independent athletes.

A further 47 athletes and coaches are also still hoping to compete if they win the appeals which they have made to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

But the decision is not expected until 2am British-time - only nine hours before the opening ceremony tomorrow - and the whole thing has become a bit of a farce which surely should have been sorted by now.

Separately, there is the rather awkward fact that, technically at least, South Korea is still at war with its neighbours North Korea.

Only a truce stopped the fighting in the Korean War in 1953, rather than a peace agreement, and the tension between them became further heightened during the course of 2017.

In early September, North Korea really ramped up its aggression by conducting its sixth nuclear weapons test to the dismay of the international community at large.

United States president Donald Trump responded by threatening to “totally destroy” North Korea in his first address to the United Nations.

But, thankfully, the rhetoric since the New Year seems to have cooled somewhat.

In a surprise move, North Korea has agreed to send a team to compete, something which it pointedly refused to do for the 1988 Summer Olympics which were held in the South Korean capital Seoul.

Indeed, the two nations will march together at the opening ceremony under a unified flag and will even field a unified women's ice hockey team at the Games.

President of the IOC Thomas Bach described the agreement as "a milestone in a long journey".

He added: "The Olympic spirit is about respect, dialogue and understanding. The Winter Games [in] Pyeongchang are hopefully opening the door to a brighter future on the Korean peninsula, and inviting the world to join in a celebration of hope."

Raise a glass to diplomacy then - it appears, in this regard, as if it has achieved the necessary.

Now, though, it really is time for the talking to stop - and for the Games to begin!

Coverage can be found across the BBC (and Eurosport) with a nightly hour-long highlights show showing the best bits on BBC Two every evening at 7pm

TEAM GB  

2018 WINTER OLYMPICS

PYEONGCHANG

CURLING
Team Smith Kyle Smith, Thomas Muirhead, Kyle Waddell, Cameron Smith, Glen Muirhead

			Score
14-Feb	00:05	SWITZERLAND	W6-5 OT
14-Feb	11:05	CANADA	L4-6
15-Feb	05:05	JAPAN	W6-5
16-Feb	11:05	SWEDEN	L6-8
17-Feb	05:05	SOUTH KOREA	L5-11
18-Feb	11:05	ITALY	W7-6 OT
19-Feb	05:05	DENMARK	W7-6
20-Feb	00:05	NORWAY	W10-3
21-Feb	05:05	UNITED STATES	L4-10
22-Feb	00:05	PLAY-OFF: SWITZERLAND	L5-9

Team Muirhead Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams, Lauren Gray, Kelly Schafer

			Score
14-Feb	05:05	OLYMPIC ATHLETES RUSSIA	W10-3
15-Feb	00:05	UNITED STATES	L4-7
15-Feb	11:05	CHINA	W8-7 OT
17-Feb	00:05	DENMARK	W7-6
17-Feb	11:05	SOUTH KOREA	L4-7
18-Feb	05:05	SWEDEN	L6-8 OT
19-Feb	11:05	SWITZERLAND	W8-7
20-Feb	05:05	JAPAN	W8-6
21-Feb	00:05	CANADA	W6-5
23-Feb	11:05	SEMI FINAL: SWEDEN	L5-10
24-Feb	11:05	BRONZE MATCH: JAPAN	L3-5

  

ALPINE SKIING
Dave Ryding	Men's slalom	1:40.16 (9th)
Laurie Taylor	Men's slalom	1:43.41 (26th)
Charlie Guest	Women's slalom	1:48.26 (33rd)
Alex Tilley	Women's slalom Women's giant slalom	DNF DNF
Dave Ryding Laurie Taylor Charlie Guest Alex Tilley	Mixed team event	beat United States in R16 lost to Norway in QF (5th)
BIATHLON
Amanda Lightfoot	Women's sprint Women's individual	24:15.3 (67th) 49:14.7 (73rd)
BOBSLEIGH
Brad Hall Joel Fearon	Two-man	3:18.34 (12th)
Brad Hall Greg Cackett Joel Fearon Nick Gleeson	Four-man	3:18.26 (17th)
Lamin Deen Andrew Matthews Toby Olubi Ben Simons	Four-man	3:18.29 (18th)
Mica McNeill Mica Moore	Two-woman	3:24.07 (8th)
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
Andrew Musgrave	Men's 15km freestyle Men's 30km skiathlon Men's 50km mass start	35:51.0 (28th) 1:16:45.7 (7th) 2:20:57.9 (37th)
Callum Smith	Men's 15km freestyle Men's 30km skiathlon	38:20.9 (75th) 1:23:49.9 (57th)
Andrew Young	Men's 15km freestyle Men's sprint	37:13.1 (57th) 3:21.50 (45th)
Andrew Musgrave Andrew Young	Men's team sprint	16:30.62 (15th)
Annika Taylor	Women's 10km freestyle Women's 15km skiathlon	30:52.9 (75th) 48:09.1 (60th)
FIGURE SKATING
Nick Buckland Penny Coomes	Ice dancing	170.32 (11th)
FREESTYLE SKIING
Lloyd Wallace	Men's aerials	100.03 (14th)
Murray Buchan	Men's halfpipe	66.00 (14th)
Alexander Glavatsky-Yeadon	Men's halfpipe	15.00 (26th)
Peter Speight	Men's halfpipe	64.60 (15th)
Rowan Cheshire	Women's halfpipe	75.40 (7th)
Molly Summerhayes	Women's halfpipe	66.00 (17th)
Emily Sarsfield	Women's ski cross	lost in QF
Tyler Harding	Men's slopestyle	21.00 (29th)
James Woods	Men's slopestyle	91.00 (4th)
Isabel Atkin	Women's slopestyle	84.60 (3rd)
Katie Summerhayes	Women's slopestyle	71.40 (7th)
LUGE
Adam Rosen Rupert Staudinger	Men's singles Men's singles	2:25.167 (22nd) 2:27.842 (33rd)
SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING
Joshua Cheetham	Men's 1000m	1:26.223 (Heats)
Farrell Treacy	Men's 1000m Men's 1500m	1:25.080 (QF) DNF (Heats)
Elise Christie	Women's 500m Women's 1000m Women's 1500m	1:23.063 (4th) PEN (Heats) PEN (SF)
Charlotte Gilmartin	Women's 500m Women's 1000m Women's 1500m	PEN (Heats) 1:32.899 (Heats) 3:00.691 (SF)
Kathryn Thomson	Women's 500m Women's 1000m Women's 1500m	1:08.896 (Heats) 1:32.150 (Heats) 2:32.891 (Heats)
SKELETON
Dominic Parsons	Men's event	3:22.20 (3rd)
Jerry Rice	Men's event	3:24.24 (10th)
Laura Deas	Women's event	3:27.90 (3rd)
Lizzy Yarnold	Women's event	3:27.28 (1st)
SNOWBOARDING
Rowan Coultas	Men's big air Men's slopestyle	84.50 (8th) 23.58 (18th)
Billy Morgan	Men's big air Men's slopestyle	168.00 (3rd) 56.40 (10th)
Jamie Nicholls	Men's big air Men's slopestyle	81.25 (11th) 71.56 (8th)
Aimee Fuller	Women's big air Women's slopestyle	25.00 (25th) 41.43 (17th)
Zoe Gillings-Brier	Women's snowboard-x	lost in QF

Winter Olympics 2014: Britain's finest for 90 years

SOCHI 2014 WINTER OLYMPICS

Preview - Hockey/Curling - Results/Medals - Review

GREAT BRITAIN delivered its best Winter Olympics performance in 90 years, winning four medals over the last 17 days in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Lizzy Yarnold became only Team GB's 10th ever Winter Olympic champion, winning gold in the skeleton, while Jenny Jones won a first ever medal for Britain on snow in the slopestyle snowboarding.

Both of the curling teams also made it onto the podium. David Murdoch's men took silver and Eve Muirhead's women won an emotional bronze as Britain matched exactly their record in the inaugural Games in Chamonix with one gold, one silver and two bronzes.

In doing so this time, Team GB importantly exceeded the minimum medal target of three, set by UK Sport, the country's high-performance funding agency.

The investment of almost £14m over the past four years has paid off then, and now winter sports rightly looks set to receive a boost for the next Games in Pyeongchang in South Korea in 2018.

Yes, Britain is never really going to compete right at the top end of the Winter Olympics medal table against the likes of Russia, Norway, Canada and United States.

But the signs are already there that those glorious British sporting moments which seemed to come around all too sparingly at Winter Olympics may start to happen just a little more regularly.

Certainly, that has been the case for the last two-and-a-half weeks, and it began at the very beginning. The Games were officially only two days old when Britain first tasted success.

Jenny Jones, a 33-year-old from Bristol, had blazed a trail in her sport over the years, winning three gold medals at Winter X Games having learned her trade while working as a chalet maid in the French Alps.

Finally, in Sochi, her sport had received Olympic recognition, and Jones did not miss her chance.

She even held the lead following her score of 87.25 on her second run but then had to watch and wait while 10 athletes tried to beat her score.

Only two managed it, and Britain's historic first medal on snow was secured when the final contender, Austrian Anna Gasser fell.

Sadly, that moment was spoilt slightly for me by a jingoistic BBC commentary team who roundly celebrated Gasser's demise by screeching hysterically down the mike.

The incident showed the risks behind employing close friends and team mates to deliver the commentary.

And, while it was hardly the crime of the century and may have even added to the event for some, it was just as well the BBC could excuse the behaviour on this occasion by admitting "[the] excitement got the better of them".

Strangely enough, rather more measured tones greeted Lizzy Yarnold's gold though this was as much as a result of the 25-year-old's own dominance than anything else.

Yarnold led by almost half-a-second following the first two runs, and then extended this to 0.78 seconds after setting a track record in her third run.

The fourth run thus became something a procession for the former heptathlete from Sevenoaks in Kent, who was introduced to skeleton in 2008 by the UK Sport-backed programme Girls4Gold.

Hardly at her best, Yarnold actually stretched out her margin of victory still further, ultimately winning by a massive 0.97 seconds.

And, consequently, she maintained Great Britain's brilliant record of having won a women's skeleton medal in every Winter Olympics since the event was introduced in 2002.

Curling has also been a sport which has furnished Britain with a good helping of success over the years, notably in 2002 when skip Rhona Martin famously led her team to Olympic gold.

Martin is now a coach to her team's youthful successors who are themselves spearheaded by their determined skip Eve Muirhead, competing at her second Olympics at the age of just 23.

The women came into the event as reigning world champions but found the round-robin stage tough going, eventually qualifying for the semi finals in fourth with a 5-4 win-loss record.

Nevertheless, there had been some notable signs of their talent, no less than when they took a record seven from one end in a 12-3 victory over the United States.

But, having given away a 3-0 headstart after two ends, Canada were just too strong in the semis, and Muirhead's tearful team were a picture of devastation.

They showed some guts then not just to limp over the line when 3-1 down after four ends of the bronze medal match against Switzerland.

Level at half time after taking a two in the fifth, Britain began to control the match, blanking the seventh end and restricting the Swiss to one with the hammer in the ninth.

It meant Britain had the hammer, the vital last stone, going into the final end - and Muirhead used it to her full advantage with a nerveless draw into the house with her last shot for bronze.

The men's team, led by David Murdoch, also endured some torturous tussles in the Ice Cube Curling Centre, and they too finished the round-robin with a 5-4 win-loss record.

In the men's competition, though, that was not good enough for an automatic place in the semi finals with Norway finishing with an identical 5-4 ratio after a costly defeat to Denmark. 

Britain thus faced a playoff against the flamboyant Norwegians for a place in the last four, and a tight match again went down to the last end.

Norway led 5-4 going into it but Britain had the hammer. Nevertheless, the pressure was all on Murdoch who had been left with a tough double take-out to leave Britain lying two for victory, or a simpler draw shot for one to take the tie into an extra end.

Murdoch had been attacking throughout the competition, narrowly missing a similar death-or-glory shot against Canada in the round-robin. Bearing that in mind, would he stick to his principles or play it safe?

The Lockerbie man thankfully chose the former - and, this time, he made it to ensure Britain had both of its teams in the semi finals.

Arguably, given the elation from their playoff success, the men had more momentum heading into their semi final, and it showed as they beat reigning world champions Sweden.

Again, it came down to Britain needing a two with the hammer from the final end. Again, Murdoch delivered, drawing into the house and perfectly leaving his stone on the button.

Victory had guaranteed Britain a medal but, sadly, the final was a journey too far for Murdoch and his men, as Canada ruthlessly took advantage of a slow start to lead 5-1 after three ends and 8-2 after six.

There were no death-or-glory shots to be made this time - nevertheless, Murdoch could still afford a smile.

This was his third Olympics and finally he had achieved a medal after disappointments in Turin in 2006, and particularly in Vancouver in 2010.

For the rest of the team, though, this was a first Olympics experience - and, indeed, much of the Team GB squad in Sochi has youth on its side.

Teenager Katie Summerhayes finished seventh and 20-year-old James Woods was fifth in the slopestyle freestyle skiing event

Meanwhile Billy Morgan, just 24, was 10th in the final of the men's slopestyle snowboarding having come top in the semi final round.

Overall, there were 13 top-eight finishes from British athletes and teams. The spirit of London 2012 was very much present in the British camp in Sochi.

Then, of course, there was poor Elise Christie, the short track speed skater.

Understandably disqualified in a racing incident in the 500m final, the 23-year-old was bizarrely adjudged not to have completed her heat in the 1500m after skating 1cm to the left of the finish line.

An emotional interview followed, as a clearly distraught Christie tried to make sense of the ruling while she also revealed that she had been the target of cyber bullying on Twitter.

Christie subsequently deleted her account and Team GB asked for social media providers, such as Twitter and Facebook, to offer more protection to its athletes.

Overall, though, it must be said that there has been excellent support for the British team, especially on Twitter.

#YarnyArmy and #lovecurling have trended, and followers of snowboarder Jones soared from 8,453 on 8 February to over 45,000 on the day she won her bronze.

For Christie, though, these seemed destined to be the Olympics that never were - and so it proved in her favoured event, the 1000m, where she received a penalty for the third time, despite being taken out by China's Jianrou Li.

A heartbreaking series of events then, and one can only hope Christie refuses to wilt and instead comes back stronger at a future Olympics.

Time is certainly on her side too, and Britain's reputation in the Winter Olympics is growing again so it would be a crying shame if she continued to miss out.

GREAT BRITAIN AT THE WINTER OLYMPICS

Year	Hosts	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
1924	Chamonix (FRA)	1	1	2	4
1928	St Moritz (SUI)	0	0	1	1
1932	Lake Placid (USA)	0	0	0	-
1936	Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER)	1	1	1	3
1948	St Moritz (SUI)	0	0	2	2
1952	Oslo (NOR)	1	0	0	1
1956	Cortina d'Ampezzo (ITA)	0	0	0	-
1960	Squaw Valley (USA)	0	0	0	-
1964	Innsbruck (AUT)	1	0	0	1
1968	Grenoble (FRA)	0	0	0	-
1972	Sapporo (JPN)	0	0	0	-
1976	Innsbruck (AUT)	1	0	0	1
1980	Lake Placid (USA)	1	0	0	1
1984	Sarajevo (YUG)	1	0	0	1
1988	Calgary (CAN)	0	0	0	-
1992	Albertville (FRA)	0	0	0	-
1994	Lillehammer (NOR)	0	0	2	2
1998	Nagano (JPN)	0	0	1	1
2002	Salt Lake City (USA)	1	0	1	2
2006	Turin (ITA)	0	1	0	1
2010	Vancouver (CAN)	1	0	0	1
2014	Sochi (RUS)	1	1	2	4

GREAT BRITISH WINTER OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS
1924 Men's curling
1936 Men's ice hockey
1952 Jeannette Altwegg (figure skating)
1964 Tony Nash & Robin Dixon (two-man bobsleigh)
1976 John Curry (figure skating)
1980 Robin Cousins (figure skating)
1984 Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean (figure skating)
2002 Women's curling
2010 Amy Williams (skeleton)
2014 Lizzy Yarnold (skeleton)


Away from Team GB, and Russia topped the Sochi 2014 medal table following a late rush of gold medals including the four-man bobsleigh on the final day.

To President Vladimir Putin's obvious delight at the closing ceremony, the hosts finished with 13 golds, two ahead of long-time leaders Norway.

Previous hosts Canada were third with 10 golds including all four in the men and women's hockey and curling events. That left the United States down in fourth, their worst ranking since 1998.

Beaten in both hockey tournaments by the Canadians, some of the other big American stars - like Alpine skier Bode Miller and snowboarder Shaun White - failed to shine.

The biggest medal table shock, though, was Germany being beaten to a top-five placing by their neighbours Netherlands, a result of total Dutch domination in the speed skating events.

In all, the Dutch won 23 of their 24 medals from speed skating including all eight of their golds.

By contrast, the Germans dominated the luge, winning all four events in the sport for half of their golds - but it was still not enough to beat the Dutch.

Realistically, though, all eyes in these Games were on the Russians.

And, while Putin may not have got his wish for Russian hockey gold, the hosts' overall showing was much improved on their efforts four years ago in Canada when they finished down in 11th.

The staging of the event also passed off without any major incidents, the biggest faux-pas being an embarrassing malfunctioning hydraulic Olympic ring in the opening ceremony.

Yet even this had been turned on its head with unexpected good humour at the closing ceremony as the dancers arranged themselves to replicate the error in a self-depreciating manner.

If that had raised a smile or perhaps even a chuckle, attention now turns again to Putin and the Kremlin in respect of much weightier matters following the events over the last week in Ukraine.

Already, the rhetoric from Moscow appears to be escalating as the sun sets on Sochi and life moves on...

Winter Olympics 2014 hockey/curling results

HOCKEY

Men

GROUP A

Time	Date		Venue
12.30pm	Thu 13 Feb	RUSSIA 5-2 SLOVENIA	Bolshoy
12.30pm	Thu 13 Feb	SLOVAKIA 1-7 UNITED STATES	Shayba
8am	Sat 15 Feb	SLOVAKIA 1-3 SLOVENIA	Bolshoy
12.30pm	Sat 15 Feb	UNITED STATES 2-2(4-3) RUSSIA	Bolshoy
12.30pm	Sun 16 Feb	RUSSIA 0-0(2-0) SLOVAKIA	Bolshoy
12.30pm	Sun 16 Feb	SLOVENIA 1-5 UNITED STATES	Shayba

GROUP B

Time	Date		Venue
8am	Thu 13 Feb	FINLAND 8-4 AUSTRIA	Bolshoy
5pm	Thu 13 Feb	CANADA 3-1 NORWAY	Bolshoy
5pm	Fri 14 Feb	CANADA 6-0 AUSTRIA	Bolshoy
5pm	Fri 14 Feb	NORWAY 1-6 FINLAND	Shayba
8am	Sun 16 Feb	AUSTRIA 3-1 NORWAY	Bolshoy
5pm	Sun 16 Feb	FINLAND 1-2(OT) CANADA	Bolshoy

GROUP C

Time	Date		Venue
5pm	Wed 12 Feb	CZECH REP 2-4 SWEDEN	Bolshoy
5pm	Wed 12 Feb	LATVIA 0-1 SWITZERLAND	Shayba
8am	Fri 14 Feb	CZECH REP 4-2 LATVIA	Bolshoy
12.30pm	Fri 14 Feb	SWEDEN 1-0 SWITZERLAND	Bolshoy
5pm	Sat 15 Feb	SWITZERLAND 1-0 CZECH REP	Bolshoy
5pm	Sat 15 Feb	SWEDEN 5-3 LATVIA	Shayba

QUALIFICATION ROUND

Time	Date		Venue
8am	Tue 18 Feb	SLOVENIA 4-0 AUSTRIA	Bolshoy
12.30pm	Tue 18 Feb	RUSSIA 4-0 NORWAY	Bolshoy
5pm	Tue 18 Feb	SWITZERLAND 1-3 LATVIA	Bolshoy
5pm	Tue 18 Feb	CZECH REPUBLIC 5-3 SLOVAKIA	Shayba

QUARTER FINALS

Time	Date		Venue
8am	Wed 19 Feb	SWEDEN 5-0 SLOVENIA	Bolshoy
12.30pm	Wed 19 Feb	FINLAND 3-1 RUSSIA	Bolshoy
5pm	Wed 19 Feb	CANADA 2-1 LATVIA	Bolshoy
5pm	Wed 19 Feb	UNITED STATES 5-2 CZECH REPUBLIC	Shayba

SEMI FINALS

Time	Date		Venue
12pm	Fri 21 Feb	SWEDEN 2-1 FINLAND	Bolshoy
5pm	Fri 21 Feb	UNITED STATES 0-1 CANADA	Bolshoy

BRONZE

Time	Date		Venue
3pm	Sat 22 Feb	FINLAND 5-0 UNITED STATES	Bolshoy

GOLD MEDAL FINAL

Time	Date		Venue
12pm	Sun 23 Feb	SWEDEN 0-3 CANADA	Bolshoy

Women

GROUP A

Time	Date		Venue
8am	Sat 8 Feb	UNITED STATES 3-1 FINLAND	Shayba
3pm	Sat 8 Feb	CANADA 5-0 SWITZERLAND	Shayba
10am	Mon 10 Feb	UNITED STATES 9-0 SWITZERLAND	Shayba
3pm	Mon 10 Feb	FINLAND 0-3 CANADA	Shayba
8am	Wed 12 Feb	SWITZERLAND 3-4(OT) FINLAND	Shayba
12.30pm	Wed 12 Feb	CANADA 3-2 UNITED STATES	Shayba

GROUP B

Time	Date		Venue
8am	Sun 9 Feb	SWEDEN 1-0 JAPAN	Shayba
3pm	Sun 9 Feb	RUSSIA 4-1 GERMANY	Shayba
12pm	Tue 11 Feb	GERMANY 0-4 SWEDEN	Shayba
3pm	Tue 11 Feb	RUSSIA 2-1 JAPAN	Shayba
8am	Thu 13 Feb	JAPAN 0-4 GERMANY	Shayba
5pm	Thu 13 Feb	SWEDEN 1-3 RUSSIA	Shayba

QUARTER FINALS

Time	Date		Venue
8am	Sat 15 Feb	SWITZERLAND 2-0 RUSSIA	Shayba
5pm	Sat 15 Feb	FINLAND 2-4 SWEDEN	Shayba

SEMI FINALS

Time	Date		Venue
5pm	Mon 17 Feb	CANADA 3-1 SWITZERLAND	Shayba
12.30pm	Mon 17 Feb	UNITED STATES 6-1 SWEDEN	Shayba

BRONZE

Time	Date		Venue
12pm	Thu 20 Feb	SWITZERLAND 4-3 SWEDEN	Bolshoy

GOLD MEDAL FINAL

Time	Date		Venue
5pm	Thu 20 Feb	CANADA 3-2(OT) UNITED STATES	Bolshoy

---

CURLING

Men

ROUND ROBIN

Time	Date
5am	Mon 10 Feb	RUSSIA 4-7 GREAT BRITAIN
		SWITZERLAND 5-7 SWEDEN
		DENMARK 4-7 CHINA
		GERMANY 8-11 CANADA

Time	Date
3pm	Mon 10 Feb	UNITED STATES 4-7 NORWAY
		DENMARK 11-10 RUSSIA
		CANADA 4-5 SWITZERLAND
		SWEDEN 8-4 GREAT BRITAIN

Time	Date
10am	Tue 11 Feb	CANADA 6-7 SWEDEN
		UNITED STATES 4-9 CHINA
		GREAT BRITAIN 7-6 GERMANY
		NORWAY 9-8 RUSSIA

Time	Date
5am	Wed 12 Feb	DENMARK 5-9 UNITED STATES
		NORWAY 8-5 GERMANY
		CHINA 5-4 SWITZERLAND
		NONE

Time	Date
3pm	Wed 12 Feb	GERMANY 7-11 CHINA
		SWITZERLAND 2-4 GREAT BRITAIN
		RUSSIA 4-7 CANADA
		DENMARK 8-5 SWEDEN

Time	Date
10am	Thu 13 Feb	SWITZERLAND 6-7 RUSSIA
		CANADA 7-6 DENMARK
		NORWAY 4-5 SWEDEN
		GREAT BRITAIN 5-3 UNITED STATES

Time	Date
5am	Fri 14 Feb	SWEDEN 6-5 CHINA
		UNITED STATES 8-5 GERMANY
		CANADA 10-4 NORWAY
		NONE

Time	Date
3pm	Fri 14 Feb	GREAT BRITAIN 8-6 DENMARK
		RUSSIA 7-6 UNITED STATES
		CHINA 7-5 NORWAY
		SWITZERLAND 7-8 GERMANY

Time	Date
10am	Sat 15 Feb	SWEDEN 8-4 GERMANY
		DENMARK 3-9 SWITZERLAND
		CANADA 7-5 GREAT BRITAIN
		RUSSIA 6-9 CHINA

Time	Date
5am	Sun 16 Feb	UNITED STATES 6-8 CANADA
		GREAT BRITAIN 6-7 NORWAY
		SWEDEN 8-4 RUSSIA
		NONE

Time	Date
3pm	Sun 16 Feb	NORWAY 5-3 SWITZERLAND
		CHINA 8-9 CANADA
		GERMANY 3-6 DENMARK
		UNITED STATES 4-6 SWEDEN

Time	Date
10am	Mon 17 Feb	CHINA 6-5 GREAT BRITAIN
		GERMANY 7-8 RUSSIA
		SWITZERLAND 6-3 UNITED STATES
		NORWAY 3-5 DENMARK

TIEBREAK

Time	Date
5am	Tue 18 Feb	NORWAY 5-6 GREAT BRITAIN

SEMI FINAL

Time	Date
3pm	Wed 19 Feb	SWEDEN 5-6 GREAT BRITAIN
		CANADA 10-6 CHINA

BRONZE

Time	Date
8.30am	Fri 21 Feb	SWEDEN 6-4 CHINA

GOLD MEDAL FINAL

Time	Date
1.30pm	Fri 21 Feb	GREAT BRITAIN 3-9 CANADA

Women

ROUND ROBIN

Time	Date
10am	Mon 10 Feb	CHINA 2-9 CANADA
		SWITZERLAND 7-4 UNITED STATES
		SWEDEN 6-4 GREAT BRITAIN
		RUSSIA 7-4 DENMARK

Time	Date
5am	Tue 11 Feb	SWITZERLAND 7-6 DENMARK
		SWEDEN 3-9 CANADA
		RUSSIA 9-6 UNITED STATES
		SOUTH KOREA 12-7 JAPAN

Time	Date
3pm	Tue 11 Feb	GREAT BRITAIN 12-3 UNITED STATES
		SOUTH KOREA 6-8 SWITZERLAND
		DENMARK 3-8 JAPAN
		CHINA 7-5 RUSSIA

Time	Date
10am	Wed 12 Feb	JAPAN 8-4 RUSSIA
		UNITED STATES 4-7 CHINA
		SOUTH KOREA 4-7 SWEDEN
		CANADA 9-6 GREAT BRITAIN

Time	Date
5am	Thu 13 Feb	CANADA 8-5 DENMARK
		CHINA 7-8 GREAT BRITAIN
		SWITZERLAND 8-9 SWEDEN
		NONE

Time	Date
3pm	Thu 13 Feb	SWEDEN 7-6 DENMARK
		RUSSIA 4-8 SOUTH KOREA
		SWITZERLAND 5-8 CANADA
		JAPAN 6-8 UNITED STATES

Time	Date
10am	Mon 14 Feb	SOUTH KOREA 3-11 CHINA
		GREAT BRITAIN 12-3 JAPAN
		UNITED STATES 2-9 DENMARK
		RUSSIA 6-3 SWITZERLAND

Time	Date
5am	Sat 15 Feb	CANADA 8-6 JAPAN
		CHINA 7-6 SWEDEN
		GREAT BRITAIN 10-8 SOUTH KOREA
		NONE

Time	Date
3pm	Sat 15 Feb	UNITED STATES 6-7 SWEDEN
		CANADA 5-3 RUSSIA
		GREAT BRITAIN 6-8 SWITZERLAND
		DENMARK 9-6 CHINA

Time	Date
10am	Sun 16 Feb	DENMARK 7-4 SOUTH KOREA
		JAPAN 9-7 SWITZERLAND
		SWEDEN 5-4 RUSSIA
		UNITED STATES 6-7 CANADA

Time	Date
5am	Mon 17 Feb	RUSSIA 6-9 GREAT BRITAIN
		SOUTH KOREA 11-2 UNITED STATES
		JAPAN 8-5 CHINA
		NONE

Time	Date
3pm	Mon 17 Feb	CHINA 6-10 SWITZERLAND
		DENMARK 8-7 GREAT BRITAIN
		CANADA 9-4 SOUTH KOREA
		SWEDEN 8-4 JAPAN

SEMI FINAL

Time	Date
10am	Wed 19 Feb	CANADA 6-4 GREAT BRITAIN
		SWEDEN 7-5 SWITZERLAND

BRONZE

Time	Date
8.30am	Thu 20 Feb	GREAT BRITAIN 6-5 SWITZERLAND

GOLD MEDAL FINAL

Time	Date
1.30pm	Thu 20 Feb	CANADA 6-3 SWEDEN