Friday, February 22, 2002
Accepting the bronze
By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun
OGDEN, Utah -- They didn't crack a smile.
No one pumped a fist into the air.
No one banged a broom on the ice.
They just turned and shook hands. It was like they'd won the first game of a club bonspiel not their last game of the Olympics.
The day before, Kelley Law and her Vancouver rink had lost the semifinal and were in such a state of shock they didn't shed a tear.
HARD TO DO
When she left the ice, Julie Skinner ended up with tears in her eyes, not tears of joy for winning the bronze medal with a 9-5 win over Kari Erickson's U.S. rink, but the tears you expected the day before.
"It was real hard to go out there (yesterday),'' she said, trying not to cry.
"We tried to get over it (Wednesday night) and do what we had to do for ourselves and for Canada.
"We're bringing home a medal.
"I think we really were in shock (after losing in the semifinals). We had time to go home and cry. That never hurts. We could have come out (yesterday) and totally tanked it.''
It wasn't like they came back to the rink and shot out the lights, however. Law curled 63 per cent. Skinner curled 74 per cent. As a rink they barely curled well enough to win.
But they did win, and Canada can still claim to not have missed the medals at the Olympics Games in curling. Nagano and Salt Lake have been the only full-medal Olympics with curling as an official sport.
The bronze medal game looked like a bronze medal game (Erickson curled 59 per cent). And the gold medal game looked like a gold medal game as Great Britain's Rhona Martin won the first Olympic Winter Games gold medal for her Britain since Sarajevo in '84. As a result of a bronze in skeleton the day before, her gold gave Great Britain two medals at these Olympics, an accomplishment the Brits haven't managed since 1948, and both of those were bronze.
Martin made a raise takeout on the last end to win the final 4-3 over the Swiss rink skipped by Luzia Ebnoether.
It was a jolly good show.
The Canadians were the warmup act.
"Great teams bounce back,'' said second Georgina Wheatcroft, "and we bounced back after a really tough loss.''
She said she came to the rink with an attitude that she wanted something to take home from the Olympics more than the memories.
"I'll cherish this medal forever. There were a lot of sacrifices with my family and children and now I have something to show them.
"All day was a really tough day after we lost to Great Britain. Everybody dealt with the loss separately. We went to watch Kevin Martin play and that was not the 'funnest' thing to do. Thank God he won.''
Law said it was like a delayed reaction. It didn't really hit them what had happened to them until after they left the rink following their loss.
"After the game we were in a state of shock.
"I had a great deal of trouble sleeping. I fell asleep at 1:30 a.m. and woke up at 4 a.m.
HOME WITH A MEDAL
"Yesterday was tough. We did take a few hours out to mourn. This morning was tough. We tried to sing our team song, but that was hard because the lyrics are about all that glitters is gold.
"We told each other 'Let's go home with a medal to show our family and kids and have something to remember forever.
"I'll forever remember talking to my 10-year-old son Christopher. It was classic. I said, 'Chris, we're not going to win the gold.' He said, `Mom, you're at the Olympics. If you can't win the gold, win a medal. I haven't won a soccer game all year.' "
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2002 Games Curling Coverage
