An emotional Brad Gushue ensured Canada would not go home empty-handed from an Olympic curling competition for the first time.
The Newfoundland and Labrador skip beat reigning Olympic champ John Shuster of the United States 8-5 in the bronze-medal game on Friday in Beijing.
Gushue delivers a double takeout on his first skip stone to end it early. Canada defeats the USA 8-5 to capture the bronze medal.
It's the first time Canada has won bronze in men's curling at the Winter Olympic Games. #Beijing2022 #curling
— Jonathan Brazeau (@JonathanBrazeau) February 18, 2022
“We all wanted it real bad. You know, no quit,” Gushue said during a CBC interview in which he was fighting back tears. “We weren’t at our best, but good enough.”
Gushue is on the Olympic podium for a second time after winning gold in 2006 in Turin.
The bronze for Gushue, Mark Nichols, Geoff Walker and Brett Gallant marks Canada’s 23rd medal in Beijing — six back of the country’s record total from 2018 with just over two days left.
“It’s been 16 years since we got to stand on the podium. I know it’s not the colour we wanted, but we worked so darn hard to get back up there today,” Nichols said. “It was special for all of us.”
A loss on Friday would have made Canada medal-less in curling at the Olympics for the first time since the sport returned to the Winter Games program in 1998.
Jennifer Jones’ women’s team and the mixed doubles team of Rachel Homan and John Morris missed the Olympic semifinals.
Shuster gave up a steal of two in the ninth end to fall behind 8-5, giving Gushue a much easier finish. The Canadians got a deuce with hammer in the eighth to take a slim edge.
Gushue, who finished 5-4 in round-robin play before losing 5-3 to Sweden’s Niklas Edin in the semis, called the contest against the U.S. toughest game he had ever played.
“I think this really tells the story of the team,” Gushue said. “We weren’t at our best this week, I think that was clear to every Canadian curling fan that watched us. But for us to grind through and come out with a bronze medal, it’s something I’m super proud of right now and I think I’m going to be even prouder as the years go by. It’s really easy to play when you’re playing well but it’s tough on this stage when you’re struggling. I thought we handled it really well.”
Four years ago, Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes prevented Canada from being shut out of the curling medals with a gold in mixed doubles, which was making its debut. Homan and Kevin Koe missed the podium in women’s and men’s play, respectively.
Edin will face Great Britain’s Bruce Mouat in the men’s gold-medal game on Saturday at 1:05 a.m. ET.
Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa meets Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni and Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg squares off with Great Britain’s Eve Muirhead in the women’s semifinals on Friday at 7:05 a.m. ET.
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