Winter Olympics: Women's curling team claim Great Britain's only gold

Winter Olympics: Women's curling team claim Great Britain's only gold
_123321754_gettyimages-1371644280.jpgHosts: Beijing, China Dates: 4-20 FebruaryCoverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and online; listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds; live text and highlights on BBC Sport website and mobile app

Great Britain had a golden finish to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics with Eve Muirhead's women's curlers crushing Japan 10-3 in Sunday's final.

Muirhead drew the British fans watching in the Ice Cube to their feet when she scored a superb four in the seventh end to effectively clinch the title.

It emulates the gold won by Rhona Howie's team at Salt Lake City in 2002.

Team GB end the Games with two medals after Bruce Mouat's men won curling silver on Saturday.

Skip Muirhead, who won bronze in 2014, finally has her gold medal at her fourth Olympics after returning from hip surgery, while Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds, and Hailey Duff are champions at their first attempt.

"I don't think it's going to sink in for a while," Dodds told BBC Sport. "I'm speechless.

"I'm so proud of these girls and the way they played in that final and the whole week.

"We built on every game, we got more confidence every game. Hopefully that was slightly less stressful that the semi-final for all our families."

Resilience has been the key for this women's side all the way through the tournament in a manner consistent with the champion side of 2002, who needed a tie-breaker match to make the last four.

Muirhead and her team also only managed to squeeze into the play-offs and then edged past Sweden in an extra end after a thrilling semi-final.

In the final they were favourites against a Japan team who had stunned world champions Switzerland in the last four, and they were ruthless.

A perfectly executed two in the opening end with the hammer (last-stone advantage) put them in control, and crucially Muirhead pulled off a superb draw to steal a shot in the fifth end and a 4-1 lead after five of the 10 scheduled ends.

That left Japan, who had beaten GB to bronze four years ago, chasing the game, and when skip Satsuki Fujisawa missed a good chance to hit back in the sixth end, the result seemed inevitable.

The decisive four came in the next end and, though the rules dictated Japan could not concede before the eighth, their hopes were all but extinguished.

As Muirhead's shot landed the British contingent in the stands - including the men's silver-medal winning team - jumped to their feet and applauded and cheered, knowing the significance of the play.

And Japan's resistance finally ended as Britain's domination continued with a two in the ninth end which forced Japan to concede defeat one end early.

More to follow.

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