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Underdogs take gold in men's curling
By Julie Dockstader Heaps
Deseret News Olympic specialist
OGDEN — King Harold of Norway got his money's worth. Sitting in the VIP section at The Ice Sheet Friday afternoon, he watched his country's curling team upset the favored Canadians for the gold medal.
The final game — the 100th in the men's and women's Olympic curling competition — could not have been more dramatic. With the score tied, Canadian skip Kevin Martin delivered the "hammer," or last rock of the game. What was considered to be the winning throw of the gold medal game came into the house too heavy and was swept an inch too deep. Final: Norway 6, Canada 5.
With fans screaming and waving Norwegian flags, Norway's skip Paal Trulsen waved his broom in triumph. A mostly Canadian crowd — including members of Canada's gold medal women's hockey team — sat stunned.
In earlier action Friday, Switzerland — the defending gold medalists from Nagano — pounded Sweden 7-3 to win the bronze medal.
In a press conference following the gold medal game, Trulsen couldn't put into words his feelings on winning only the second men's gold medal in Olympic curling history. "I'm not sure yet," he said.
His teammate Bent Aanund Ramsfjell answered for him — "Dream come true."
Ramsfjell said that after the victory, King Harold "congratulated us and showed a lot of curling knowledge according to (those sitting with him)."
The silver medal is bittersweet for Martin, who is known as one of the best skips in the world but is now 0-6 in international competition. "I think it made the pressure big in his last shot," Trulsen said. "I thought he was going to make that shot."
Norway, which lost to Canada 4-9 in round-robin competition, took control early in the game, stealing one in the second end and two in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead. Canada stormed back in the fifth, scoring two when Martin nailed a tap-in to leave two stones near the button. Then, in the sixth end, Trulsen's final stone wrecked on a guard stone, allowing Canada to steal one and tie the score.
Canada finally took the lead in the eighth end, scoring two to go up 5-4. Norway scored one in the ninth to tie — setting up the final action.
"It was a heck of a good game," Martin said. "I thought I was going to make that (last shot). It felt good out of my hand. I guess it doesn't always work out the way you want it.
"Paal Trulsen is a great player. He's tough and aggressive. The gold looks good on him."
In the bronze medal game, Switzerland stole two points in the second end to take an early 3-0 lead and never let up the pressure on Sweden. By the ninth end and the Swiss up 7-3, Swedish Skip Peja Lindholm surprised everyone — including his own teammates — by ending the game on a humorous note. On his last stone, instead of releasing at the hog line, he held on and slid with his rock to the button. He then rolled over on his back, throwing his arms in the air.
"It was for my team. They were sad," Lindholm said after the game. "It's not a great memory to cry at the end."
For the Swiss, who had lost to Sweden five straight times including in the finals of the 2001 world championships, the victory was bittersweet, as their country was the defending gold medalist.
"Our goal was to win a medal, which we did," Swiss skip Andreas Schwaller said. "We're happy. Not very happy, but quite happy. After that tough loss in the semis, we deserved to win today."
E-MAIL: julied@desnews.com
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February 23, 2002
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