Britain’s mixed curlers had arrived in Beijing as one of the team’s few realistic hopes for gold but Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat ended seven days of competition without a medal after losing their bronze-medal match to Sweden.
The British pair had come agonisingly close to a spot in the final in a tight last-four encounter against Norway the previous day.
But on Tuesday aside from an early 1-0 lead in the first end, the British duo were entirely outclassed by Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson.
Afterwards, Mouat said: “We just got off to a bad start which punished us. We had to fight back from that. We’re just going to have to console ourselves because we’ve got a big week with both our teams. We’re both ready for that.”
A stunning final stone on the second end by de Val gave the Swedes, who themselves have been outplayed in the previous round against Italy, a 4-1 advantage.
And when they pulled off a steal of three at the next end, a comeback looked highly improbable from the world champions, whose performance was notable for a series of costly errors.
The match did not make it to its regular conclusion, the 9-3 deficit after six ends deemed insurmountable.
Both Dodds and Mouat will return to competition in the respective women’s and men’s team events.
And Dodds said: “It’s hard to fight back when your opposition is playing that well. Congratulations to them on wining the bronze. They played amazing today.”
