U.S. men win historic gold in curling — and get women’s medals
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA» John Shuster’s last throw in the eighth end of the Olympic curling final clacked off one Swedish stone and knocked it into another, sending them both skittering out of scoring range.
Five yellow-handled American rocks were left behind.
The score, known as a five-ender, is so rare it has been topped only once before in the history of the men’s or women’s Olympic final. And it effectively clinched gold for Shuster’s erstwhile “rejects,” who rallied from the brink of pool play elimination to claim only the second curling medal ever for the United States.
“It’s hard to rationalize wanting to do it,” vice-skip Tyler George said after the Americans beat favored Sweden 10-7 in nine ends in the gold medal match Saturday. “But then days like this happen.”
With the king of Sweden and Ivanka Trump looking on — and bolstered by social media messages from actor Mr. T., NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and speedskater Dan Jansen — Shuster skipped the Americans from a 2-4 record at the start of pool play to five wins in a row, starting with a victory over three-time defending Olympic champion Canada.
No U.S. curling team, men or women, had ever beaten Canada at the Winter Games.
Shuster’s team did it again in the semifinals. Switzerland, which beat Canada in the third-place game Friday, joined the finalists on the podium to receive its bronze medals. Sweden got silver.
But when the Americans looked at the medals draped around their necks, there was a problem: They had been given the ones engraved for the women’s winners. The correct medals were quickly swapped out.
Shuster brushed it off: “A gold medal in curling is a gold medal in curling.”
South Korea will play Sweden in the women’s final Sunday. Japan beat Great Britain 5-3 in the women’s bronze medal match Saturday. — The Associated Press