Waddell Olympic dream shattered
Play-off agony forteam GB in South Korea
Hamilton curler Kyle Waddell’s Winter Olympic dream ended last Thursday when Team GB crashed out of a semi-final play-off against Switzerland.
USA had defeated Britain 10-4 in the final round-robin game on Wednesday, which gave the Americans the same won five, lost four record as both Britain and Switzerland, but victory over both during the round-robin qualified USA into third place.
That put GB and Switzerland into a play-off to decide who got the fourth semi-final berth, with the Swiss winning 9-5.
Kyle Smith’s rink had led 4-1 after the fourth end and 5-4 after the eighth, but Switzerland scored a five-point stone in the ninth end to set up a semi-final slot against Sweden, which they lost 9-3.
Sweden went on to lose 10-7 against the United States of America in the gold medal match.
Britain’s coach Viktor Kjell said: “I just don’t know what happened in that ninth end. We missed four or five shots in a row, and you cannot afford to do that at this level.
“I thought we had almost got away with it, and then he [Benoit Schwarz] plays a pistol shot and walks away with a five.
“I thought we deserved to be in the play-offs. We deserved a better destiny than this.”
Kyle’s grandmother Isobel herself an accomplished curler, having represented Scotland four times and her husband Jimmy five times, the latter being part of the 1979 European Championshipswinning rink in Varese, Italy – was delighted to see her grandson do so well and to see the sport gain popularity.
She said: “It was a fantastic achievement just to be there. I’ve started five grandsons in curling and Kyle is doing very well.
“I’ve been curling for 53 or 54 years, and we’ve represented Scotland quite a few times between us.
“We are a very curling-orientated family.
“I was very proud to see Kyle on TV, absolutely, and he did well just to get there. Hopefully they can get there again, because they are a very good team, and Kyle works so hard for it.
“He is very dedicated to a sport that I’m delighted to say has become very popular.”
Hopefully they can get there again, because they are a very good team