Canada’s world champion women curlers out of contention

GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Despite entering the Pyeongchang Olympics as world champions and the favorites to win gold, Canada’s women’s curling team has been eliminated from medal contention after a shocking loss to Britain.

It’s an unwanted first for Rachel Homan and her teammates. No Canadian team has ever left the Olympics without a medal in men’s or women’s curling since the sport was reintroduced to the Winter Games in 1998. “They played really well — they put the rocks in the right spots and we really didn’t,” Homan, Canada’s “skip,” or captain, said after the stunning 6-5 defeat. “Obviously, (we’re) a little bit disappointed. We wanted to try to qualify and make the playoffs for Canada, but we gave it all we had. We never gave up and that’s the way it goes sometimes. It’s sport.”

Canada entered the final end, or period, of the match up 5-4, but the British team had an advantage known as the hammer, which means they were allowed to throw the final rock.

The Brits quickly crowded the center of the target, known as the house, with stones. Homan tried to remove the rocks by throwing a fast-moving stone. But she didn’t quite nail the shot, leaving two Canadian stones close to the center of the house. Homan then faced a difficult final shot, which had to make its way around a cluster of rocks to the bullseye.

It came up short of the target. And it was games over for Holman’s team.

Canada’s uneven performance during the Games rocked the curling world, particularly Canadians who are by far the most feverish curling fans on the planet. The Canadian spectators at the Gangneung Curling Centre, normally the second-rowdiest bunch in the arena next to the hometown crowd of Koreans, fell unusually silent as the players reached over to shake their opponents’ hands in gracious defeat.

The Canadians struggled from the start of the games, losing their first three matches.