[ritchiebaby]

Scotland were beaten 5-8 by Sweden in the 3v4 game this morning. The Scots were always behind but still in the game at 4-5 after 7 ends, but lost 3 shots to be too far behind coming into the last 2 ends, running out of stones in the last end.

This relegated Scotland to the Bronze Medal match tomorrow, with Sweden progressing to the Semi-final against Russia this afternoon. After a close first 6 ends with the score at 3-3, Russia pulled away with 2 scores of 3 to lead 9-3, prompting a concession from the Swedes.

Tomorrow's Medal Games
GOLD/SILVER - Canada v Russia
BRONZE - Sweden v Scotland

The Gold/Silver Game will be live on Eurosport 2 at 8am BST (pesky time change!), by which time the Bronze Medal will have been decided. Come on, Scotland, for a Medal!!!

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland made amends for their poor efforts in the Play-off games, by beating Sweden 6-4 to win the Bronze Medals. The Scots once again were involved in a very close game all the way, but came good at the right time by winning the last 3 ends, 1 shot at a time, to clinch the win. They sneaked into the lead for the first time in the second last end and, after drawing into the centre with the first stone, executed 7 perfect guards to protect their advantage.

In the other minor game Canada won Gold for the first time since 2008, defeating Russia in a one-sided Final by 8-3 with 2 ends to go. Also for the first time, the Canadians went through the entire competition without losing a game. They were dominant throughout and thoroughly deserved their victory. The leads and seconds were fairly equal, but the Russian third made too many basic errors in calling the sweeping and put too much pressure on the skip, who also had a poor game by her own high standards.

Just as an aside, the last Russian stone to be played was taken off the ice by the Russian sweepers and Anna Sidorova looked disgusted with herself. I can only assume it was because, during delivery, she released the stone momentarily and then gripped it again and she called the foul. In common with snooker and golf, curling sets itself very high standards in playing by the rules of the game - "Curlers never knowingly break a rule of the game, nor disrespect any of its traditions. Should they become aware that this has been done inadvertently, they will be the first to divulge the breach."

Final Results
GOLD - Canada
SILVER - Russia
BRONZE - Scotland
Each of the medal winners improved on last year's positions

[Lord Snooty]

Glad you've cleared that up, Ritchiebabes. Watched the final this morning and wondered why she'd shook her head and her team mates kicked the stone away.
Canada looked good, like you said, won every match. Deserved winners.