Curler tries to turn disappointment into grit
BEIJING — Chris Plys has dealt with disappointment before. In fact, before he joined John Shuster’s team, they were quite common.
“My career has been filled with disappointments,” said the Duluth curler. “I’ve been working really hard with my sports psychologist. I think I’ve developed a certain courage, a certain way of looking at things, to be able to move past things that I can’t control.”
It’s a quality Plys will be drawing on in Beijing this week after being given an unplanned time-out between the men’s mixed doubles and curling Olympic tournaments. A 5-6 defeat by Switzerland ruled Plys and her US teammate Vicky Persinger out of the medal fight in Sunday night’s mixed doubles. They will complete the round robin on Monday morning (Sunday night Minnesota time) against Great Britain, then Plys will start with the Shuster gang in Wednesday’s men’s draw.
Plys and Persinger started Sunday with a 3-3 record, in sixth place but still chasing one of four playoff spots. In the morning session they lost against the Czech Republic 8:10 and could not convert their opponents’ mistakes into points.
In the evening they fell 3-0 behind Switzerland in the first end and were trailing 5-5 by the seventh final. The Swiss with the hammer at the end secured the only point to inflict a double dose of disappointment on the Americans at the National Aquatic Center.
Persinger will stay until the end of the week and then return home. Plys will help her come to a funny conclusion to her first Olympics, let his men’s teammates know what he’s learned about the ice conditions at the Ice Cube arena, and move on.
“Mixed doubles is sometimes brutal,” said Plys, a two-time Olympic gold medalist. “Looking back over the week, we were spot on in pretty much every single game. It only comes down to a shot or two, and unfortunately we were on the side you don’t want to be on.
“I’m going to get some rest and hang out with Vicky. After that, go back into play mode, put this disappointment behind me and get ready to go.”
Plys describes himself as a “chronic practitioner,” the type of player who wants and needs to be on the ice as much as possible. COVID-19 protocols and travel cut his training time significantly in the days leading up to the start of the Olympic mixed doubles tournament.
That handicapped him earlier in the week. The USA won their opening game against Australia and then lost five of their next seven games. The team never gained consistency as Plys struggled with his shooting.
In eight games, he shot 74.6%, ranking eighth out of the 10 men in the field. Persinger took third place among women with 75.4%.
“I know how we can both play, but we just didn’t quite make it,” said Persinger. “It’s not like we were absolutely terrible. But there were definitely some endings that will stick with you for a while that we just missed.”
The percentage of plys improved as the tournament progressed. Persinger said both read the ice well and improved the timing of their turn in their recent games.
Plys will have little time to adjust to the men’s draw. Team Shuster’s Olympic opener against Russia takes place at 8pm Beijing time on Wednesday, some 57 hours after Plys and Persinger finished the mixed doubles.
With only a few fans allowed into the Ice Cube, Persinger will try to create a bit of atmosphere this week by cheering on the US men’s and women’s teams. Although she wasn’t happy with the result, she still enjoyed her first Winter Games.
“I had fun and I think that’s important,” she said. “We play for four years to get the chance to play here.”
Plys only has to wait two days for his next Olympic game. This kind of quick turnaround is new territory for him, but he’s confident he can keep going.
“I know my boys are hungry,” he said. “I will be ready.”