Canada's Brad Gushue beats U.S. to win bronze in men's curling in Beijing

Sixteen years after winning his first Olympic medal, Canada's Brad Gushue now has another to add to his collection.

Gushue and his Canadian rink defeated reigning Olympic champion John Shuster and the United States 8-5 at the Ice Cube in Friday's bronze medal game in men's curling in Beijing.

Gushue, a 41-year-old from St. John's, and third Mark Nichols won gold in Turin in 2006, and have since taken three Briers, one world championship and a dozen Grand Slam titles. Lead Geoff Walker, second Brett Gallant and fifth Marc Kennedy round out the squad in Beijing.

"That was the toughest game I think I've ever played. It was hard," Gushue told CBC Sports' Colleen Jones.

He later added: "It's a big moment. We all wanted it real bad. No quit. We weren't at our best, but good enough."

WATCH: Gushue seals Olympic bronze medal victory for Canada in final end:

These Olympics had been rough on Canadian curlers up until Friday. Last week, John Morris and Homan suffered an 8-7, extra-end loss to Italy and missed qualifying for the playoffs in mixed doubles. On the women's side Jennifer Jones, who won gold in 2014 in Sochi, finished with a 5-4 record just below the playoff line.

Had Gushue lost to Shuster, it would've been the first time that Canada had been shut out of the podium ever since the sport's Olympic debut in 1998 in Nagano. It took a gold medal in mixed doubles in 2018 to avoid that scenario in Pyeongchang. Kevin Koe and Rachel Homan finished fourth and sixth, respectively in 2018.

"It's been 16 years since we've 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. This is special for all of us," Nichols said.

Gushue played for a chance at a bronze after