The curling competition at the Olympic Winter Games begins on Tuesday 16 February at the Vancouver Olympic Centre. Ten men’s and ten women’s team have qualified to take part.
Among the field in the women’s competition is Sweden’s Anette Norberg and her team, Olympic gold medallists from Turin in 2006. Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott returns after taking silver in Turin, her teammates are making their first Olympic appearance. Another women’s team to watch is China. It is the first time that China has qualified for the Olympic curling competition (in both the men’s and women’s competitions). Bingyu Wang and her team are reigning Women’s World Champions.
In the men’s competition, Canada’s Kevin Martin returns to the Olympics after taking silver in Salt Lake in 2002. Great Britain’s team, skipped by David Murdoch, are current holders (playing as Scotland) of the Men’s World Championship title. The Norwegians, skipped by Thomas Ulsrud and with Salt Lake Olympic champion Pal Trulsen on the coaching bench, have won World and European Championship bronze medals in the last year. USA skip, John Shuster, was a member of the team that won bronze in Turin. Swiss skip, Markus Eggler, won bronze in Salt Lake.
- Day by day - Teams -
Russian Curling Women's Team at the opening ceremony
Russian Olympic Women's Team 2010
- Ludmila Privivkova (skip), Anna Sidorova, Margarita Fomina, Ekaterina Galkina, Kira Ezekh
Women's. Final Round Robin Standing
Day by Day. Women's:
Day 1:
16-17.02.2010
01:00 (here and after Moscow time)
The opening session of the Women's Curling tournament saw nip-and-tuck battles on almost every sheet as Canada, Sweden and Japan eked out narrow victories over Switzerland, Denmark and the United States of America. In the fourth game, Germany handled the Russian Federation with relative ease.
A  USA -  Japan 7-9
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On Sheet A, Japan defeated the United States 9-7 in a game defined by inconsistent play by both skips.
The United States moved ahead 3-0 in the second by stealing two, as Japanese skip Moe MEGURO (JPN) was light with her final stone and failed to remove either of the USA's two counters.
Japan fought back and tied at four with three in the fifth. They took three again in the seventh, after two poor throws by USA skip Debbie MCCORMICK (USA). With her first stone McCORMICK missed a takeout and, with her second, only removed one on an attempted double, leaving MEGURO an easy draw for three and a 7-6 lead.
The USA went into the tenth end with the hammer, down 8-7. MCCORMICK was again put to the test with her last stone, needing to remove the Japanese shot rock from the button to tie the game. But her touch failed again and Japan earned a steal to win 9-7.
B  Denmark -  Sweden 5-6
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On Sheet B, the Denmark-Sweden game, featured no great shot-making but no egregious errors. There were no big ends and no steals until the 10th, when Danish fourth Madeleine DUPONT (DEN), with the last stone, needed to make a difficult draw around Sweden's shot rock in the top of the four to break a 5-5 tie. She threw a little heavy, giving Sweden a steal of one and a 6-5 victory.
C  Germany -  Russia 9-5
Team Russia in this game:
Ludmila Privivkova (skip, 83%), Anna Sidorova (86%), Nkeiruka Ezekh (74%), Ekaterina Galkina (88%)
Video of the game Germany vs Russia
Video by Sportbox.Ru
Game Review >>>
On Sheet C, Germany, the session's steadiest-looking team, defeated an uninspired Russian Federation rink 9-5.
D  Canada -  Switzerland 5-4
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The crowd at the Vancouver Olympic Centre, getting rowdier by the session, was most engaged by the Canada-Switzerland contest on Sheet D. Home support for the Canadian Women was louder than it had been for the Men earlier in the day. Swiss fans also made an auditory impression, with their cowbells and New Year's Eve-style grater noisemakers often making the event sound like a Downhill ski race.
The Canadians and Swiss stood even at 3-3 after the first seven ends. Two tactical decisions in the eighth and ninth were perhaps more pivotal than any single shot. In the eighth, with the hammer, Canadian skip Cheryl BERNARD (CAN) opted to draw for a single rather than blanking the end, and Canada went up 4-3. In the eighth, Swiss skip Mirjam OTT (SUI) faced a similar decision and she also chose to draw for one rather than trying a chancy takeout for a blank. After the ninth the teams were tied again 4-4.
BERNARD decided the game with a tidy draw into the four-foot with her final stone. Canada emerged with a 5-4 victory.
Day 2:
17-18.02.2010
20:00
Sweden is the only undefeated Women's rink after Session 3 action at the Vancouver Olympic Centre on Wednesday.
A  China -  Great Britain 4-5 (EE)
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B Germany - USA 6-5
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C Switzerland - Sweden 7-8 (EE)
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D Japan - Canada 6-7
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06:00
A Russia - Denmark 7-3
Team Russia in this game:
Ludmila Privivkova (skip, 79%), Anna Sidorova (81%), Nkeiruka Ezekh (75%), Ekaterina Galkina (81%)
Video of the game Russia vs Denmark
Video by Sportbox.Ru
Game Review >>>
On Sheet A, the Russian Federation met Denmark. The teams, which lost their opening matches, continued their undistinguished play.
A Denmark mistake in the ninth was pivotal. Down 4-3, fourth Madeleine DUPONT (DEN) tried to blank the end to retain the hammer going into the 10th, but her attempted takeout of Russia's lone counter in the 12 foot sailed wide, giving Russia a steal of one and a 5-3 lead.
In the 10th, the Russians positioned their stones well enough to prevent a Danish deuce, and wound up with a steal of a meaningless two. The final score was Russia 7, Denmark 3.
Russia improved to 1-1. Denmark is now 0-2.
B Great Britain - Sweden 4-6
Game Review >>>
Sweden's game against Great Britain, on Sheet B, featured a clash of styles, with flashy 19-year-old Scottish skip Eve MUIRHEAD (GBR) squaring off against patient, experienced Swedish skip Anette NORBERG (SWE).
From the start, both served up precisely what was expected of them.
In the first, MUIRHEAD gave Sweden a steal of one when, facing two Swedish counters with the last rock, she inexplicably threw a hit and roll rather than throwing a simple draw to the four-foot. Great Britain gave up another steal in the second and Sweden led 2-0 after two.
MUIRHEAD lived up to her billing as a splendid shot-maker with a number of spectacular takeouts, particularly a long, perfectly angled raise takeout for one in the fifth, and a double takeout in the eighth that left her shooter on the button behind cover, ultimately earning a steal of one.
One, however, was too common a number for Great Britain. They never earned more, going the entire game without so much as a deuce.
NORBERG deserved part of the blame. The Swedish skip proved better at building solid Swedish ends than MUIRHEAD was at crowd-pleasing throws.
When the chips were down, NORBERG delivered splendid shot-making of her own. In the ninth, up 5-3 but with Great Britain holding the hammer, NORBERG threw a clutch raise double takeout with her first skip stone that managed to leave untouched her shot stone on the button. The resulting position ultimately forced Great Britain to settle for one and yield the hammer to Sweden for the 10th end.
In the 10th, NORBERG showed perfect touch with her last stone on a hit and roll to bite the four-foot and seal the 6-4 win.
Great Britain now stands at 1-1..
C X
D China - Switzerland 8-6
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On Sheet D, world champion China bounced back from an opening loss to defeat Switzerland, 8-6.
The deciding factor in the game was the unusually spotty play of veteran Swiss skip Mirjam OTT (SUI).
In the first, she turned a possible four into two, overthrowing her last-stone takeout and rolling out, killing another potential Swiss counter along the way.
The Swiss led 3-1 after four, but the fifth end was disastrous for OTT. China had the hammer. With her first skip stone, OTT badly missed a double takeout attempt, throwing her shooter through the house. With her second she wrecked on a guard, leaving China with a free draw for four.
OTT stormed off at the break and returned determined to atone for her mistakes. But China held firm and took a 7-4 lead into the ninth.
In the ninth, the Swiss took a deuce to move within one, and in the 10th they crowded the house with their yellow stones to put the pressure on China. With the last stone, Chinese skip Bingyu WANG (CHN) pulled off a perfectly weighted hit and stay on the button to secure the victory.
China now stands at 1-1. The highly regarded Swiss rink is a surprising 0-3.
Day 3:
18-19.02.2010
01:00
A Canada - Germany 6-5 (EE)
Game Review >>>
This 6-5 result came after a strong second half by Schoepp, who stole a single point in the tenth to force the extra end. It also preserves Canada-s unbeaten record and keeps Bernard-s team at the top of the ranking alongside Sweden-s defending Olympic champion Anette Norberg, who had a bye in this session.
B China - Japan 9-5
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World champions from the People-s Republic of China, led by Bingyu Wang, beat Japan-s Moe Meguro by 9-5. These wins put China and Britain on the same won two, lost one record as Germany.
C Russia - Great Britain 3-10
Team Russia in this game:
Ludmila Privivkova (skip, 39%), Anna Sidorova (70%), Nkeiruka Ezekh (46%), Ekaterina Galkina (81%)
Video of the game Russia vs Great Britain
Video by Sportbox.Ru
Game Review >>>
Elsewhere in the session, Great Britain-s Eve Muirhead had an eight-end 10-3 win over the Russian Federation, with Russian skip Ludmila Privivkova struggling to find draw weight.
D Denmark - USA 7-6
In the remaining game of the session, Denmark and the USA had a tussle which saw the Americans in the lead until skip Debbie McCormick came up short with a draw in the seventh end to give up a steal of three points and turn the game in Denmark-s favour. Denmark won 7-6.
Day 4:
19-20.02.2010
20:00
A Germany - Great Britain 4-7
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B Russia - USA 4-6
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In Friday-s morning session, USA-s Debbie McCormick grabbed her first win of the event so far, beating a re-cast Russian side, now skipped by Anna Sidorova, by 6-4.
C China - Denmark 7-6
Game Review >>>
D X
06:00
A Denmark - Canada 4-5 (EE)
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It took all the way to an extra end in Friday evening-s sixth session of women-s play, but Canada-s Cheryl Bernard maintained her unbeaten record with a hard-fought 5-4 win over Denmark.
B Sweden - China 6-4
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Sweden-s Anette Norberg, who, like Canada, remains unbeaten, won her game against Bingyu Wang, and the People-s Republic of China team, by 6-4.
C Great Britain - Japan 4-11
Game Review >>>
Following her 7-4 win in Session 5 earlier in the day over reigning European champions Germany skipped by Andrea Schoepp, Britain-s Eve Muirhead lost out by 4-11 to Japan-s Moe Meguro on Friday evening. This result means that Britain and China are now tied on three wins and two losses each behind Canada and Sweden.
D  Switzerland - Russia 8-5
Game Review >>>
Having not played in session 5, Switzerland-s Mirjam Ott recorded her first win from four starts on Friday evening, beating the Russian Federation by 8-5. Denmark and the Russian Federation have also just gathered one win so far, and both now prop up the table with four losses, one more than Switzerland and USA.
Day 5:
20-21.02.2010
01:00
These results leave Canada as the only unbeaten women-s team with four wins. While Sweden and China also have four wins, Sweden now has one loss, while China has two. Britain stands alone on three wins in fourth place, with a pile-up below them of five teams on two wins. Only Denmark have now reached the dreaded stage of five losses.
A Sweden - Russia 1-10
The seventh women-s round-robin session produced arguably the biggest surprise result of the event so far, when the Russian Federation beat previously unbeaten defending Olympic champions Sweden by 10-1 in just seven ends of a completely one-sided encounter.
The Russian victory started in the third end when Sweden-s Anette Norberg picked-up with her last stone to hand Russia-s Ludmila Privivkova, restored to skipping duties for this game, a steal of three. The game went from bad to worse for Norberg, who cut her losses at 1-10 down by conceding after the seventh.
B USA - Great Britain 6-5 (EE)
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Britain-s nineteen-year-old skip Eve Muirhead was clear about where the blame lay. "I put that game down to myself, a few slack shots let us down"
C Denmark - Switzerland 7-8
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In the other game on the ice for this session, Switzerland had a final stone 7-6 win over Denmark, to effectively end the Danes- medal campaign. Canada and Japan sat out this session.
D Germany - China 7-9 (EE)
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Day 6:
21-22.02.2010
20:00
A Great Britain - Switzerland 6-10
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B Germany - Denmark 5-6
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C Canada - USA 9-2
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D Russia - Japan 9-12 (EE)
06:00
Switzerland and Great Britain did not pay in session 9. But earlier, in session 8, the Swiss beat Great Britain 10-6. Mirjam Ott-s team gained an early lead in the fourth end with a steal of four, to give the Swiss an 8-1 advantage and the game was effectively over at that stage.
A X
B China - Canada 6-5 (EE)
Game Review >>>
Canada-s unbeaten record in the round robin of the women-s curling competition was broken on Sunday night by China. Bingyu Wang led 3-0 after two ends and 4-1 after four ends. But Cheryl Bernard came storming back with single points in the fifth, sixth and seventh ends to tie the game at 4-4. No risks were taken by either team after that and it took China an extra end to edge home 6-5.
Chinese Skip Bingyu Wang was lost for words after the game, as she lost her voice from shouting instructions to her teammates above the 5000-strong chanting and cheering mostly Canadian crowd.
C Japan - Germany 6-7
Game Review >>>
In the other games on Sunday night Germany narrowly won over Japan 7-6, after leading 4-1 at the half way point. The Germans recovered winning form after losing 5-6 to Denmark-s Angelina Jensen earlier in the day. The Japanese took a step back in the evening after beating the Russian Federation 12-9 in the morning.
D USA - Sweden 3-9
Game Review >>>
At the end of play on day 6 Sweden were tied at the top of the rankings with Canada on a five wins one loss record after a convincing 9-3 victory over the USA. The Americans had shuffled their playing order to let Alison Pottinger play fourth stones and Skip Debbie McCormick moved down to third after they had suffered a heavy 9-2 loss at the hands of Canada in morning action.
Day 7:
22-23.02.2010
01:00
Canada confirmed a place in the semi-final line-up when Cheryl Bernard's team beat Sweden's defending Olympic champions led by Anette Norberg by 6-2 in the tenth session of women-s round-robin play. As Bernard explained, "We were really just up for it today v they are such a strong team and it really worked for us today".
A Russia - China 7-4
The People-s Republic of China, on five wins but now on three losses rather than Sweden-s two, went down to Russia by 4-7, much to the annoyance of their Canadian coach Dan Rafael, who said, "I'm furious. The problem with this team is that they have no passion. I don't know who will turn up the team that beat Canada or the team that lost to Russia".
B Japan - Switzerland 4-10
Game Review >>>
Elsewhere in the session, Switzerland continued their recovery from a poor start to the tournament by beating Japan 10-4 to move into a clear fourth place, with four wins, but Britain's semi-final chances were dealt an all but fatal blow when they went down by 8-9 to Denmark.
C Sweden - Canada 2-6
Game Review >>>
The Canadians were so much in control of this game that they had the luxury of bringing on their five-months- pregnant alternate Kristie Moore for the last few ends. About this move, Moore said "One day I can tell my baby that it was in the Olympics".
Despite this loss, Sweden stay in second place on the rankings.
D Great Britain - Denmark 8-9
Game Review >>>
In this game, the British, led by nineteen-year-old Eve Muirhead started well and held a 6-4 lead after six ends. But the momentum changed in the seventh, when Denmark took three and a complete miss by Muirhead in the ninth eventually left her with too much to do, with even the Danish team being surprised at their win. Their fourth player Madeleine Dupont later said, "It didn't seem like we were going to win. Britain played really well in the first half but we took advantage of some mistakes and stepped up".
Germany and the USA sat out the session. These results leave four teams on three wins v Germany, Japan, Denmark and Great Britain. But while Germany and Japan have four losses, Denmark and Britain each have five. To have any chance of survival, these four teams need to win their closing games while Switzerland would have to lose their games against Germany and USA, who prop up the table as the only team on two wins.
Day 8:
23-24.02.2010
20:00
Sweden, China and Switzerland join Canada as the teams that have qualified for the women-s semi-finals of the curling competition of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
A Japan - Sweden 6-10
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B Switzerland - Germany 4-2
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"We knew we were going to have that hard start¦ said Swiss Skip Mirjam Ott after the game v referring to Switzerland-s first three games of the round robin against fellow semi-finalists Canada, Sweden and China. "It was tough to keep going on," added Ott whose team lost those matches, "But I think we just got better as the games went on. We started too nervous maybe in the first few games."
C USA - China 5-6
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D Canada - Great Britain 6-5 (EE)
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06:00
The semi-final line up was decided in Session 11 earlier in the day. Anette Norberg and her Swedish teammates secured their spot with a 10-6 win against Japan. China beat the USA 6-5 for their place and Switzerland qualified after beating Germany 4-2.
A Switzerland - USA 10-3
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B Canada - Russia 7-3
C Japan - Denmark 5-7
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D Sweden - Germany 8-7
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This session determined the final standings for the remaining six teams: Denmark finishes the event in fifth position with four wins and five losses after beating Japan 7-5 in the final session. Germany, Great Britain, Japan and Russia finished up with three wins and six losses apiece.
Taking into account their head to head record in the round robin and the draw shot challenge ranking, Germany came sixth, Great Britain seventh and Japan eighth overall.
Ninth placed Russia took on Canada in the final session. Despite being 2-1 up by the fifth end, the Canadians struck back and took four to lead by 5-2 in the sixth end and eventually win the match by 7-3.
The USA finishes in tenth and final place after their 3-10 loss to Switzerland in the final round.
Day 9:
24-25.02.2010
20:00. Tie-breaks (not neccesary)
Day 10:
25-26.02.2010
20:00. Semifinals
D China - Sweden 4-9
Sweden's Anette Norberg kept her hopes of as successful defence of her Olympic title alive with a convincing 9-4 win over China-s world champions, led by Bingyu Wang.
Sweden will line up in the final against Canada-s Cheryl Bernard, who beat Switzerland-s Mirjam Ott by 6-5 in the other semi-final.
Norberg-s team was in charge throughout their game. They opened with a single and followed that with two single steals to be 3-up after three ends. China got on the scoreboard with a single in the fourth, but Sweden moved further ahead, scoring three in the fifth.
Sweden took another three in the eighth for 9-3 and when China could only score one in the ninth, the games was conceded.
Speaking about now having the chance to win her second Olympic gold, Norberg said, "Of course nothing can compare with winning a first gold but to win another gold would be amazing".
 
D Canada - Switzerland 6-5
I
n the Canada vs Switzerland semi-final, the eighth end proved critical. Switzerland's Ott scored just one in the end rather than the two that would have levelled the game at 5-5. Bernard then made a difficult take-out on the Swiss shot stone to score one in the ninth.
In the tenth, once again Ott could only manage one to go down by 5-6 and put Canada into the gold medal game.
Afterwards, Bernard said, "It was a tight game and it seemed the stress finally creeped in. We felt the nerves but we came through and made the shots we needed".
Day 11:
25-26.02.2010
20:00. Bronze Medal Game
D China - Switzerland 12-6
Anette or Cheryl? Sweden or Canada?
 
02:00. Gold Medal Game
C Canada - Sweden 6-7 (EE)
Sweden's women's team - skip Anette Norberg, third Eva Lund, second Cathrine Lindahl and lead Anna Le Moine v made curling history when they beat Canada-s Cheryl Bernard by 7-6 through an extra end steal on Friday in the final of the women-s curling competition. They have become the first team to retain an Olympic curling crown, as Sweden is the only nation so far to win two Olympic golds in the modern era.
After a cagey start from both teams, Sweden made the break-through in the third end, scoring two and then repeating the medicine in the fifth end for a 4-2 half-time lead.
However, Norberg was short with a draw in the seventh to give Canada-s Cheryl Bernard a steal of two for a 5-4 lead. Another single steal in the ninth gave Canada a two-shot lead, but Norberg bravely scored two in the tenth for 6-6 to put the game into an extra end.
Canada had last stone, but Bernard was tight on her double take-out attempt, leaving a Swedish stone in the four foot ring for a steal and their historic victory.
Afterwards, Norberg said, "While nothing compares with your first Olympic gold, this is amazing too, but in a different way". However, for once, third player Eva Lund disagreed with her skip. "This is much bigger than the first time. To be on top of the podium again is huge."
Although clearly disappointed, Canadian skip Cheryl Bernard insisted, 'W$e will be happy with this, we are happy with this. We've done something for our country and we've never even had the chance to represent our country before. Her third player Susan O-Connor said, "We feel honoured and it's a privilege to be on this Canadian Olympic team. It's exhilarating to walk out there and know that everyone is cheering for you."
After all this, Anette Norberg exited the media interviews with a simple explanation v "Nnow I go to meet the King". Sweden-s King Karl and Queen Silvia were amongst the 6,000 strong crowd that filled the Vancouver Olympic Centre to watch the game.
Teams:
 - Great Britain
Team line-up: Eve Muirhead (skip), Jackie Lockhart, Kelly Wood, Lorna Vevers, Karen Addison
Coach: Nancy Murdoch
 - Germany
Team line-up: Andrea Schopp (skip), Melanie Robillard, Monika Wagner, Stella Heiss, Corinna Scholz
Coach: Rainer Schopp
 - Denmark
Team line-up: Magdalene Dupont, Denise Dupont, Angelina Jensen (skip), Camilla Jensen, Ane Hansen
Coach: Adrian Miekle
 - Canada
Team line-up: Cheryl Bernard (skip), Susan O'Connor, Carolyn Darbyshire, Cori Bartel, Kristie Moore
Coach: Dennis Balderston
 - China
Team line-up: Bingyu Wang (skip), Yin Liu, Qinghyang Yue, Yan Zhou, Jirli Liu
Coachû: Weidong Tan, Rafael Daniel
 - Russia
Team line-up: Ludmila Privivkova (skip), Anna Sidorova, Kira Ezekh, Ekaterina Galkina, Margarita Fomina
Coach: Îëüãà Àíäðèàíîâà
 - USA
Team line-up: Debbie McCormick (skip), Allison Pottinger, Nicole Joraanstad, Natalie Nicholson, Tracy Sachtjen
Coach: Wally Henry
 - Switzerland
Team line-up: Mirjam Ott (skip), Carmen Shaefer, Carmen Kueng, Janine Greiner
Coach: Marc Bruegger
 - Sweden
Team line-up: Anette Norberg (skip), Eva Lund, Cathrine Lindahl, Anna Svard, Kajsa Bergstrom
Coach: Stefan Lund
 - Japan
Team line-up: Moe Meguro (skip), Anna Ohmiya, Mari Motohashi, Kotomi Ishizaki, Mayo Yamaura
Coach: Shinya Abe
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