Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat fight back tears over Winter Olympics pain | Other | Sport
Team GB’s mixed doubles curling team, Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat, couldn’t hide their disappointment at losing out on a medal at the second Winter Olympics in a row. The duo played hosts Italy in the bronze medal match on Tuesday, after falling to defeat against Sweden in the semi-final.
The match was a close-fought encounter, but Britain knew they had to score at least one point in the final end to take the match to a deciding end. But Italy, were able to use the advantage of having the hammer, by scoring the crucial point with the final shot and coming out as 5-3 winners.
The fourth-place finish is a repeat of the disappointment suffered four years ago in Beijing. Hopes were high going into the semi-final with Dodds and Mouat finishing at the top of the group, having only lost once in the round robin stage.
But the defeats against Sweden and Italy left them having to pick themselves up again for the upcoming team events.
Speaking to BBC Sport after the loss, an emotional Dodds admitted she was trying not to cry. “So close but yet so far, it kind of hurts the same as four years ago really, I don’t want to ugly cry, so I’m just going to stop there,” she said.
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Teammate Mouat, also appearing emotional then took over. “It’s rough, we played so much better than we did four years ago and to leave with the same result is going to hurt for a bit, but both of us are pretty resilient people and we’ve fought for everything this week and just extremely proud of us,” he said.
“We spoke last night just saying how lucky we are to be at the Olympics with your best mate and just two people who grew up together curling, never knowing where we could go with it. To get here has been pretty special with Jen.
“I’m obviously really gutted but very proud of us for just sticking at it.”
Dodds took the opportunity to thank fans back at home for their support. She added: “All I can say is thank you for everyone back home who’s loving curling as much as we are.
“I’ve seen all the messages and it’s just so heartwarming to know the country’s behind you.
“We came up short for them tonight, I feel like there’s been a few fourth places for Team GB over the last couple of days, that shows how close we are in so many events, I just want to say a huge thank you to the National Lottery as well, we wouldn’t be able to play a sport we love together without them, that helps with all our training and sport.”
Following the conclusion of the Mixed team event on Monday night, which sees Sweden take on USA in the gold medal match, the curling continues throughout the week. The men’s team event starts at the preliminary stage on Wednesday, with Team GB starting their campaign against China.
