Team GB's Curling Duo Stunned by Sweden in Olympic Semi-Final
Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds saw their dreams of Olympic gold shattered on Monday evening in Cortina, falling to a devastating 9-3 defeat against Sweden in the mixed doubles curling semi-finals. The Scottish pair, who had dominated the round robin stage with eight victories from nine matches, produced their worst performance of the tournament when it mattered most.
From Favourites to Fighters for Bronze
Entering the semi-finals as top seeds and strong favourites for the gold medal, Mouat and Dodds appeared to have the momentum after an impressive week of competition. Jennifer Dodds in particular had been delivering exceptional performances, with her precision stone placement earning comparisons to mythical hammer-wielding figures. Yet that velvety touch deserted them completely against the Swedish brother-and-sister combination of Rasmus and Isabella Wranaa.
The atmosphere in Cortina had initially felt promising for the British pair, with bagpipe music echoing outside the venue and Union flags waving in the stands creating a distinctly Scottish atmosphere. However, once the match began, nothing went according to plan for Mouat and Dodds.
Technical Troubles and Critical Errors
The British curlers struggled with their stone placement throughout the match, consistently overthrowing and misjudging their lengths. Dodds, who had been statistically the tournament's best player up to that point, finished with a disappointing 50% shot success rate. In stark contrast, both Swedish players exceeded 90% accuracy with their deliveries.
The decisive moment came in the sixth end, just after Dodds had executed her best stone of the match to tie the contest at 3-3. What followed was their worst end of the entire competition, with Mouat missing his lengths and Dodds unable to salvage the situation. Sweden capitalized ruthlessly, scoring five points to effectively end the contest.
Post-Match Reflections and Regrouping
"Obviously, it's not the result we were after," a disappointed Dodds admitted afterwards. "I think we're both just disappointed we didn't play like we have all week. In an Olympic semi-final you can't do that and the Swedes capitalised on our mistakes. We were punished for it tonight."
Mouat echoed his partner's sentiments, stating: "We're really gutted. We've had such a good week and it was quite exciting for us to go into this game feeling the way we were feeling, but to come out and not even play close to the way we wanted to is hard to put into words. They were the better team today."
Bronze Medal Challenge Against Hosts Italy
The Scottish pair now face the difficult task of regrouping in less than twenty-four hours for Tuesday's bronze medal match against hosts Italy at 1pm UK time. Their opponents, reigning world champions Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini, are also defending Olympic champions and will be determined to bounce back from their own semi-final defeat to the United States.
This situation carries painful echoes of Beijing four years ago, when Mouat and Dodds arrived as world champions and favourites for gold, only to lose both knockout matches and finish fourth. The psychological challenge of avoiding a repeat performance will be as significant as the technical adjustments needed.
"We'll probably speak to our coaches, talk things through and regroup for tomorrow," Dodds explained regarding their preparation strategy. "We don't want this to affect our chances of a medal, so we'll address the things that need to be corrected and come out firing tomorrow."
The Italian pair will present formidable opposition, with Mosaner showing his competitive fire by smashing his broom in frustration after their semi-final loss, demonstrating that curling is far from the sedate sport it's sometimes perceived to be.
