Wang claims China's first Olympic medal with bronze

From Sportsbeat Staff, in Vancouver

CHINA'S Bingyu Wang captured her country's first ever Olympic curling medal, defeating Switzerland's Mirjam Ott to claim bronze at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

WISE HEAD, YOUNG SHOULDERS: China's Bingyu 'Betty' Wang captures China's first Olympic curling medal with bronze at the Vancouver Olympic Centre (Getty Images)

The 25-year old, nicknamed Betty, had the better of Ott in the opening ends before the defending silver medallist fought her way back into a scrappy match.

But the Swiss struggled to keep her head in the second half of the match and a stolen four in the eighth end sealed a 12-6 win for China.

And Yin Liu admitted they had set out to enjoy themselves in their final game of the Olympics.

"During the round robin stage and semi final, we really learnt our lesson," said Liu. "This is our first Olympics and we were thinking too much about the results.

"Today we just thought we would go and play a good game and enjoy ourselves. We knew Switzerland are a strong team but we just wanted to go in and show what we know we can do in training.

"We've been through a lot of emotions in Vancouver with plenty of ups and downs so we're all really happy with bronze for our efforts."

World champion Wang started the competition slowly in Vancouver, losing out to Great Britain's Eve Muirhead in her first match.

But the Olympic debutante has grown as the Games have progressed, becoming the only team to beat round robin winners Canada when they met on day ten in Vancouver.

And having beaten Switzerland 8-6 in the round-robin, it was China who came into the bronze medal match as slight favourites.

Wang's superior confidence shone through in the opening ends as the Chinese skip sealed a triple and double score in her first two ends with the hammer.

The Chinese have a young team, and their inexperience became evident as they allowed a below-par Swiss team back into the match with skip Mirjam Ott sealing three and two scores in the fourth and sixth ends respectively.

But while Ott is a double Olympic silver medallist, the 38-year old can be found guilty of wearing her emotions on her sleeve.

And what she would have given for an ice-cold nerve as the match approached the business end.

The Swiss looked set to steal three in the seventh end but a loose stone from Ott knocked her own scoring stone out of the house and allowed Wang to take the lead again with a double score.

The mistake proved to be the turning point as Ott's nerves were shredded and come her final stone in the eighth end, the Swiss skip fell far short of the house, gifting her opponent a four point steal and the match.

And China coach Dan Rafael admitted the medal was a just reward for their efforts over the last decade.

"For them, it's been a long haul," said Rafael. "For some it's been ten years not being at home so I'm delighted for them.

"It's been two and half years of my life as well but it's my job and it's been well worth it.

"Last night we had a team meeting and I said to them 'Who remembers who finishes fourth in an Olympics? Nobody, except that team'.

"I told them it's a bronze medal or nothing and I'm delighted they came through."

Cheryl Bernard's Canada take on Annette Norberg's Sweden in the gold medal match at 15:00 local time in Vancouver.

 

 AS IT HAPPENS: Day 15 of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver