With only one last day of match days left at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the British team finally won their first medal at the Winter Olympics. In the men's curling arena, the United Kingdom lost 4:5 to Sweden in the final to win the silver medal.
Britain's performance at the Winter Olympics was not strong, and even "returned empty-handed" at seven of them. The most recent was in 1992. Moreover, the British team has never broken through two gold medals in a single Winter Olympics.
But this does not mean that Britain did not have an advantage in the Winter Olympics, especially in the curling field, the earliest curling first appeared in Scotland in 1511, during the 17th century, when the stones used in the competition were added to a handle, becoming the original shape of modern curling.
The curling shape used in 1511...
At the first Winter Olympics in 1924, the British curling team won the gold medal in Sweden. Later, in 2002, the British women's curling team let the "curling go home" at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
Still, their final opponent, the Swedish men's curling team, is also a hegemonic presence. As the three consecutive world championships in 2018, 2019 and 2021, the only thing they lack is a Winter Olympic gold medal. In the semi-finals played yesterday, neither team encountered much challenge, Sweden beat Canada 5-3, The United Kingdom eliminated the defending champion United States 8-4, Sweden and The United Kingdom will meet today's final, and it is also a repeat of the final of the 2021 World Championships.
As in the round robin, the final battle between the two strong teams is still fierce. The British team took advantage of the backhand advantage to score 1 point first, sweden team won 3 points in the 2nd and 3rd sets, after 7 innings, the two teams fought 3-3, 10 sets ended, 4-4, the two sides still tied. In the play-off competition, the Swedish team with the backhand advantage successfully scored points and successfully laughed to the end.
Although the British team only won a silver medal in men's curling, it is gratifying that the British women's curling team defeated Sweden in the semi-final played last night, and for the first time in the past 5 Winter Olympics, the Swedish women's curling team missed the final, and also allowed themselves to move towards the first gold medal of the British team.
Their opponent is the Japanese team that beat Switzerland. Five Star Sports will also bring you the live broadcast of the last match day of the Winter Olympics tomorrow, welcome to watch.