Kevin Martin and his Canadian rink struck gold at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Another rousing rendition of "O Canada" inspired the Old Bear to defeat Norway in the men's gold medal game.
Ralph Stoeckli put aside all his near misses and earned Olympic bronze in thrilling fashion, scoring two points with his final rock Saturday to give Switzerland a 5-4 victory over Sweden in men's curling.
Yes, there's heckling in curling. The stands have been packed and the crowds raucous at the Vancouver Olympics, and it can only get louder with Canada playing in the men's final Saturday.
In an astonishing finish, Sweden's Anette Norberg stole the gold medal out of Canada's hands. Cheryl Bernard played a perfect tournament until the final two ends in the gold medal game, so Canada's women settle for curling silver.
In the end, Wang Bingyu gave her coach plenty to celebrate: China is going home with some hardware from its first Olympics in curling. Wang, and the reigning world champion Chinese women bounced back from a semifinal loss to Sweden to earn a bronze medal Friday, beating Switzerland 12-6 in a shortened eight-end match.
Unbeaten tournament favorite Canada advanced to the gold medal match in men's curling Thursday with a 6-3 win over Sweden. Kevin Martin's team will face Thomas Ulsrud (and his pants) from Norway for the Olympic title on Saturday.
Defending champion Sweden had a comfortable win, while Canada advanced with a nail-biting victory Thursday to set up the gold medal match in women's curling at the Vancouver Olympics. Sweden beat reigning world champion China 9-4, and Canada edged Switzerland 6-5.
Surprising Sweden sent the reigning world champion British men's curling team to an early Olympic exit, shocking David Murdoch's foursome 7-6 in a tiebreaker match Wednesday to secure a spot in the semifinals. Sweden will play top-seeded and unbeaten Canada in the semifinals on Thursday.
