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Curling: Norway wins gold in upset over Canada; Swiss win bronze
By Tim Korte
Associated Press
OGDEN, Utah — Canadian Kevin Martin has a new title: The Best Curler Without a Major Championship.
Norway won the gold medal in Olympic curling Friday, beating favored Canada 6-5 in a stunner when Martin's final throw, the last of the tournament, slid past the blue scoring button.
With King Harald of Norway watching from the stands, Paal Trulsen's team played even with Martin's mighty Canadians and pulled off the upset. With the house clear, Trulsen was closer to the mark on his final throw than Martin.
The mostly Canadian crowd of 1,500 rose to its feet and cheered as Martin's rock rumbled down the ice sheet. But it was Trulsen who raised his arms in victory when the Canadian stone kept sliding.
It was like trying to make a free throw, except Martin missed.
Earlier, Switzerland beat Sweden 7-3 in the bronze-medal game.
Martin is one of the world's top skips. He's president of the World Curling Players Association and runs an Edmonton curling academy, a star in a land where curlers have agents and the sport ranks second only to hockey.
For years, though, the knock on Martin has been that he doesn't have an international title. He's curling's version of Phil Mickelson, who's saddled with the label of being the world's best golfer without a major.
Martin's team placed second at the world championships in 1991 and fourth in 1997, and placed fourth when curling was a demonstration sport at the 1992 Albertville Games.
In the bronze medal match, Swedish captain Peja Lindholm showed a sense of humor in his ninth-end concession after a medal-clinching toss by Swiss captain Andreas Schwaller.
Schwaller's stone in the eighth started a billiards-style combination, knocking the Swedes out of scoring position and eliminating any chance of scoring the two points they were in position to nab.
That shot left the center of the house wide open. Since that's where all the points are scored, Lindholm only needed to put his final rock on target, just like Martin later.
But Lindholm, one of the world's best curlers, missed. His rock slid past the blue center button and kept going. Instead of pulling Sweden to 6-4, the Swiss led decisively 7-3.
"The difference between disaster and success is very, very small," Lindholm said. "You have to be humble and realize that."
Early in the ninth, Lindholm conceded by holding his rock and sliding down the 146-foot ice sheet. Players are supposed to release the stone after a short slide from the starting hack.
Translation: game over.
"I saw my sweepers and they were very sad. They were almost crying," Lindholm said. "We will remember the Olympics and it's not a great memory to cry at the end. It is better to have a good laugh, so I did it for the team."
They cried anyway. As Lindholm stood to hug and congratulate the Swiss players, his teammates returned to their end of the sheet with tears rolling off their cheeks.
"Two years from now, no one will remember who ended up fourth," said Swedish player Thomas Nordin. "Our goal was a gold, but we would have been happy to win any medal."
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February 22, 2002
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