Great Britain, Sweden to play for Olympic curling gold for men
BEIJING (AP) – Great Britain and Sweden will play for the Olympic gold in curling for men.
Great Britain beat the USA 8-4 and Sweden topped Canada 5-3 in the semifinals on Thursday night at the Ice Cube Arena in Beijing. John Shuster’s American foursome, the reigning gold medalists, will play against Canada for the bronze.
After 5-4 at the five-final break, the Americans deliberately extinguished three straight ends to retain control of the last stone’s advantage, known as the hammer. They would have liked to have done it again in the ninth end, but Great Britain put them in, and Shuster deliberately threw away his last stone – and dropped a point to keep the hammer in the 10th, after 6-4.
Bruce Mouat’s foursome left Shuster with no good alternative for his last stone, and in desperation he ended up knocking off all the red stones in the points area to leave two British yellows.
Sweden also played for the big close and extinguished the sixth and seventh in a 3-3 match before Canada was forced to take a single point in the eighth. Then Canada took a deliberate zero and went into the 10th disadvantage with 4-3.
Brad Gushue’s last stone in the 10th was inches further away from the center of the goal, giving five-time world champion – and two-time Olympic medalist – Niklas Edin the theft of one.
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