Eve Muirhead led Great Britain to their first gold medal at the Winter Olympics after a superb 10-3 victory over Japan in the women’s curling final.
The Team GB skip, alongside Vicky Wright, Jennifer Dodds and Hailey Duff, also secured a first curling gold medal in 20 years.
Muirhead played a pivotal role after executing a fine shot in the seventh end to take out Japan’s only stone in the house to snatch four points, stretching their lead to 8-2.
And it proved too much for Fujisawa Satsuki’s team and served as redemption for Muirhead after Team GB lost against the same opposition in the bronze medal match from PyeongChang 2018.
The victory matched the joint-biggest winning margin in a final since the sport was reintroduced in 1998.
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Muirhead emulates Rhona Howie, then known as Rhona Martin, who inspired gold at Salt Lake City 2002 in a dramatic match documented in the film ‘A Brilliant Curling Story’.
Team GB secured their first gold medal of Beijing 2022
The sensational performance also completes Muirhead’s journey after becoming Team GB’s youngest skip ever at Vancouver in 2010, before returning in 2014 and 2018 with semi-final defeats to Canada and Sweden.
Muirhead screams instructions during the women’s curling final
Muirhead’s endured plenty of setbacks in her journey to Beijing: from failing to secure an initial place in Beijing through last year’s World Championships to a torrid start to the final qualifying tournament that saw them teetering on the brink of elimination.
The match started in dominant fashion, as Great Britain attempted to replicate their comprehensive 8-2 win over the Japanese in the group stage.
A delightfully weighted final stone nudged out a clever effort by Japanese skip Satsuki Fujisawa and take two to seize the initiative.
Muirhead was centimetres from a steal in the second end, Fujisawa squeezing in to take one, and although the Britons extended their advantage with one in the fourth, Muirhead’s failure to roll in her last stone for a two threatened to come back to haunt them.
Japan, however, could not take advantage. Britain stole one in the fifth to extend their lead to 4-1 at the half-way stage, and Fujisawa narrowly missed a shot at two in the next, reducing the deficit to 4-2 but giving Muirhead back the hammer.
But Muirhead’s sublime stone in the seventh to grab four and signal the beginning of the end for Japan.
Muirhead raised a fist to the air in the Aquatics Centre, surely conscious the moment she had craved for so long was finally hers. That moment arrived after the ninth end, when Muirhead rolled in for a two and Fujisawa conceded that the game was up.
The gold medal adds to the silver medal won by Bruce Mouat and his team, having lost to Sweden, led by “the greatest in history” Niklas Edin.
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“I’m speechless, I’m so proud of these girls,” Dodds said.
While Duff added: “We did what we needed to do. I don’t really know what’s happened. It’s weird.”
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