WINTER OLYMPICS 2018 Muirhead’sSwededreams but nightmare for Canada
FOR all the thrills and the spills, the Winter Olympics will always, in the final analysis, be about curling. Eve Muirhead secured herself a place in the semi-finals – and a guaranteed match for a medal – with a brilliant victory over Canadian world champion Rachel Homan.
Her British rink – including Vicki Adams, Lauren Gray and Anna Sloan – now face Sweden tomorrow for a place in the gold medal match. And they’ve been here before, losing the semi-final in Sochi to Canada four years ago, only to rebound just hours later to secure bronze.
Muirhead still labels that loss the toughest and most sobering of her career but this time the Canadians won’t be around to inflict it.
Since curling returned to the Olympics in 1998, Canada have made the podium in every men’s and women’s competition, it’s something close to a national tragedy that Homan is going home before the knockout stages.
“The last few days we’ve been getting better and better and it’s all about building momentum for when it matters, these are the matches where we’ll be judged,” said Muirhead.
“Canada are a top nation but curling is a global sport now and any one of these team are capable of getting a medal. It’s not really for me to comment about Canada, all we can do is concentrate on our performance.
“Our aim was to book that semi-final slot and we’ve shown a lot of determination and patience and we’re in a good place.
“We loved playing under pres- sure, we thrive at this level and we’ve been here before. We won’t panic and we’ll stay focused and clinical.”
If Muirhead isn’t panicking, over in Canada the inquest has begun – and it’s already getting nasty.
Team GB’s Canadian coach Glenn Howard saw the word ‘traitor’ added to his list of four world titles on Wikipedia and trolls even turned on the Homan’s husband, who sat through her matches here with his hand never far from a pint of lager.
“I picked Canada to be on the podium, I just didn’t know what colour,” said Howard.
“It is a little bit surprising and it wasn’t their week. They didn’t play up to their level but it happens.
“There’s no split loyalties for me, I’ve got GB on my tracksuit and that’s the team I care about.
“Canadians have to understand that these teams outside of Canada are really good and it’s becoming more and more apparent.
“I wish it didn’t come down to us putting Canada out, I struggled with that, but in the grand scheme of things, that was my job.”
MUIRHEAD’S rink started their campaign slowly but are now unbeaten in three matches, the perfect response to defeat from fellow semi-finalists Korea and Sweden, the latter now standing between them and the chance to upgrade their medal from four years ago.
Korea’s self-styled Garlic Girls – named after their garlicproducing hometown – are now the ones to beat. Curling’s equivalent of a K-pop sensation, their nicknames are Yogurt, Pancake, Steak, Cookie and Sunny.
“I’ve not been surprised by them,” insisted Muirhead, aiming to become the first British skip to win gold at the Games since Rhona Martin in 2002. he would start,” the Scotland head coach said. “He played well a lot in the France game.
“He did have a couple of kicking errors, and that happens, but a lot of the positive play we had in both halves, Finn was a part of that.
“He’s our attack leader, he’s an outstanding stand-off and very competitive and determined to work on the areas he needs to work on.
“He’s going to be a key player for us this weekend.”
He added: “People are very keen to look at one error and say he’s not playing well.
“A lot of parts of his game are working in well and he’s put in a lot of effort to make sure he’s playing well this weekend.”