Australia’s eventful debut in the Winter Olympics mixed doubles curling continued on Sunday with the team almost kicked out of the competition following a positive Covid test.
Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill packed their bags after Gill tested positive for the virus, but they were allowed to stay after close contact provisions were made.
And they even went on to pull of a first win of their Games by defeating Switzerland in Beijing.
“We are thrilled for Tahli and Dean and I am delighted that our headquarters team continued pressing her case, after earlier advice that the pair could no longer compete,” said Geoff Lipshut, head of the Australian delegation, before they were back at the Ice Cube in time to play the Swiss. They had been winless in seven games.
Gill contracted Covid prior to the games and ongoing testing alternated between negative and positive. She had been allowed to compete under the close contact arrangements after discussions with the IOC and games organisers.
The AOC had said earlier Sunday that initial attempts to return Gill to competition were rebuffed by the IOC and health authorities.
Greeted by an occasional chant of "Aussie Aussie Aussie!" by a spectator in the mostly empty Ice Cube, Hewitt and Gill beat Switzerland's Martin Rios and Jenny Perret 9-6. Gill had the big knockout shot to secure a three-end, or three points, in the sixth end to tie the game at 6-6.
The first-ever Olympic curling team from Australia improved to 1-7. Their final game is against their coach, defending gold medalist John Morris of Canada and his new partner, Rachel Homan.
Team GB latest
Britain’s mixed doubles pair, meanwhile, defeated China for their fifth victory of the groups. Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds then guaranteed a shot at an Olympic mixed curling medal despite a 6-2 defeat to Norway.
Results elsewhere means the duo have secured a place in the top four of the round-robin standings with one game remaining.
It means the duo will play a semi-final on Monday evening against an opponent yet to be determined, which will either send them through to the gold medal match or leave them in a play-off for bronze.
Elsewhere, Makayla Gerken Schofield made history by becoming the first Briton to ever qualify for an Olympic moguls final, eventually finishing eighth as Australia’s Jakara Anthony took gold.
“I am struggling to believe it,” the 22-year-old said. “I had so much fun out there. Eighth place is absolutely incredible.”
Windy Woe
Alpine skiing's power couple will have a busy day on the Olympic slopes — as long as the wind calms down, that is.
Mikaela Shiffrin and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde are now both supposed to race Monday after the men's downhill was pushed back a day because of too-strong gusts at the scheduled start on Sunday. Shiffrin and Kilde are dating.
Kilde is considered the man to beat in the downhill. The Norwegian leads the World Cup standings in that event and was fastest during training in China on Friday.
Shiffrin is the defending Olympic champion in the women's giant slalom, which already was on the Alpine programme for Monday.
The two-leg GS will be raced at 9.30am and 2.30pm local time on the technical slope at Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center. In between those runs, the downhill will be held at noon on the speed slope about a half-mile away.
Bolshunov claims skiathlon gold
Russian skier Alexander Bolshunov pulled away from the pack early to win gold in the 30km skiathlon.
Bolshunov, the World Cup points leader in distance races, grabbed a Russian Olympic Committee flag in the final stretch and waved it in the air as he crossed the finish line in one hour, 16 seconds.
Bolshunov and Iivo Niskanen of Finland led the race through the first four classic ski laps but Russia’s Denis Spitsov passed Niskanen once they were on the freestyle legs.
Spitsov stayed out front and secured the silver, one minute, 11 seconds behind Bolshunov. Niskanen held on for the bronze two minutes back.
Team GB’s Andrew Musgrove came home 17th.
Dutch journalist furore
The IOC says Olympic officials will meet with Netherlands state broadcaster NOS, which has been frustrated by the fallout from its journalist being manhandled by a games security official during a live report.
NOS, which pays rights fees for the Beijing Olympics, disputed comments made Saturday by an IOC spokesman that it was contacted about the incident.
In a rare public criticism of the IOC by an official rights holder, NOS said none of its management nor reporter Sjoerd den Daas had spoken to anyone from the Olympic body.
China-based Den Daas was pushed away from the camera by the guard while broadcasting live on Friday evening before the opening ceremony.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams clarified that contact with NOS on Friday and Saturday was through the Olympic broadcasting subsidiary, and that a meeting scheduled Sunday "should be the end of the matter."
Medal table
Rank |
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
1 |
Norway |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
Sweden |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
ROC |
1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
=4 |
Germany |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
=4 |
Netherlands |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
=6 |
Australia |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
=6 |
Japan |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
=6 |
Slovenia |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
=9 |
China |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
=9 |
New Zealand |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
- |
Great Britain |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Medal table correct as of 5pm GMT, Sunday February 6
