THERE’S NO SIGH IN TEAM

Forget tears and self-pity.. Muirhead still has a job to do for her country

EVE MUIRHEAD will use the pain of past experience for motivation in today’s Olympic curling bronze medal match.

Muirhead knows what it is like to lose an Olympic semi-final but she also knows what it is like to win the bronze medal match that follows too.

Four years ago there were tears after failing at the final-four stage, this time around it was more a case of steely resolve after a 10-5 semi-final defeat by Sweden.

However, their showdown with Japan today is a must-win match on so many levels for Muirhead (above), Vicki Adams, Lauren Gray and Anna Sloan personally, and for the team, if they hope to achieve the target five medals set for them by UK Sport here in Korea.

Muirhead, who has often described her 2014 semi-final loss to Canada in Sochi as the most difficult of her career, said: “I definitely don’t think it can harm us what we went through four years ago.

“We went through a semi-final loss and we came back strong to get the bronze medal.

“As a team, we know exactly what we did.

“From four years ago we learnt a lot so we’re going to come out very strong and hopefully play well for that bronze. As the skip I’m gutted I missed a few shots out there but it happens, it’s sport.

“Japan lost a world final a couple of years ago, it’s going to be a tough game but we’ll come out strong.

“I’ve never said that I’m coming just for the gold.

“I’ve trained the last four years to come to an Olympics and a medal was the target.

“Of course we came up short, but we came up short against a strong Swedish team.”

Bronze medal matches are the hardest to play, both teams coming in downbeat with confidence flagging.

Unlike four years ago there were no tears from Muirhead, perhaps because this was a match they were, in truth, always chasing.

Sloan admitted the Swedes were the better team in the handful of clutch points in the three-hour match but, like her skip, was determined to accentuate the positive.

“We’ve been here before, we know what it takes to lose a semi-final and win a bronze medal match,” she insisted. Watch the curling bronze medal match live on Eurosport 2 at 11am today. Don’t miss a moment of the Olympic Winter Games at Eurosport.co.uk and the