Bruce Mouat has led Team GB’s male curlers to a medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics
(Picture: Getty Images)Britain is guaranteed its first medal of the Winter Olympics after the men’s curling team edged out the United States in a nail-biting semi-final.
Facing the only team that Bruce Mouat’s side had lost to in the round-robin stage, the US pushed them to the final stone, skip John Shuster with an attempted take-out which went awry to finally give Team GB something to celebrate on the 13th day of action.
The eventual 8-4 scoreline did not tell the full story of a tight last-four encounter between the world champions and the defending Olympic champions.
It ensures at least a silver medal for Britain and means the 50-strong team won’t endure a first medal-less Winter Games since 1992.
Mouat, along with Grant Hardie, Hammy McMillan and Bobby Lammie, face Sweden in Saturday’s final, a side they have already beaten in the group stage, in a match just days shy of the 20-year anniversary of Rhona Martin skipping Britain to gold in the women’s team event.
Following the win over the USA, Mouat said: “I’m excited to play that game - just looking forward to hopefully going for that gold. The last two weeks for myself have been a bit of a rollercoaster and I’m just so excited to share this with the guys and that celebration at the end was just pure elation.”
Mouat’s rink have increasingly earned a reputation for going ahead early in their matches and defending well but, after a blank opening end, they conceded two stones with the hammer. But unfazed, they quickly settled for a three at the very next end.
In a high-scoring first half of the match, they traded two stones apiece with their American rivals for a 5-4 lead, which paved the way for something of a tactical stalemate.
After three blank ends, Shuster took the gamble of conceding one stone and a two-point deficit with the hammer going into the final move.
Despite some objection from his teammates and having been prolific with his takeouts earlier in the match and throughout the tournament, he backed his chances, only to misjudge his final stone to spark celebrations from the British quartet.
