Winter Olympics: ‘disaster averted’ for Team GB as curling stars win medals

A spectacular celebration and fireworks display saw the Winter Olympics come to an end with the closing ceremony yesterday at the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing. For Team GB though the final weekend of the games was met with a huge sigh of relief as they finally won some medals. 

Team GB headed to Beijing with a target of winning between three and seven medals – in the end they fell short and won just two, both in curling. On Saturday the men’s team led by Bruce Mouat had to settle for silver after losing to Sweden, then yesterday Eve Muirhead’s women’s curlers crushed Japan 10-3 to claim gold. 

Team GB had their curlers to thank for a “disaster averted” at Beijing 2022, said Matt Majendie in the London Evening Standard. But once the glow of those medals fade, “it will be difficult to judge these Winter Olympics as much more than a disappointment”. 

As the Winter Olympics progressed, “anxiety began to grow that Team GB might not return home from Beijing with a medal at all”, said Richard Newman on Eurosport. Instead, the “euphoria of a golden moment right at the end” reminded us what the Games are all about. “Now it is down to UK Sport to decide whether it wants more of the same.”

UK Sport, the non-departmental public body which is responsible for supporting Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic sports and athletes, admitted that the Beijing medal return was “disappointing”. However, it insisted that the £28m funding for winter sports would not be slashed after the underwhelming Olympics, the Daily Mail reported. 

Now is not the time to make “knee-jerk reactions or knee-jerk decisions”, said UK Sport CEO Sally Munday. “The last two weeks have not altered our ambition to become an ever greater force in winter sport.