Curling: Team GB's women hungry for medals, China test next
Eve Muirhead's British women's rink face two huge games at Beijing 2022 as they push for a semi-final berth.
Curling
Team GB produced a dominant performance just when they needed it on Tuesday (15 February) to beat Japan 10-4 in the women's curling competition at Beijing 2022.
Eve Muirhead, Jen Dodds, Vicky Wright, and Hailey Duff were coming off a 7-3 defeat by Canada and responded with a convincing victory against the side that beat them to take bronze at PyeongChang 2018.
It was a win which saw them leapfrog Japan into third place in the round robin standings with the top four going through to the semi-finals.
Team Muirhead, who now have a 4-3 record, are back in action on Wednesday 16 February at 09:05 local time (01:05 GMT) in another must-win match against hosts China who are out of playoff contention.
They will close out the round robin against ROC on Thursday at 14:05 local time.
'We came out with a lot of fire'
Team skip Muirhead is a veteran on the team playing at her fourth Games, and she reflected on the important victory over Japan.
"I think we knew that was a very important result for us today and we came out with a lot of fire," Muirhead said.
"We had a great chat last night after the loss to Canada. We knew it was a very important game to get a win. Coming out and getting a three in the first end, we couldn't have really asked for much more and managed to control it until the end."
Team GB jumped out to an early lead against 2018 bronze medallists Japan at the Ice Cube.
"Yeah to get the 6-1 lead was nice, and I think what we did very well was we didn't get complacent. We kept control of every end, every stone and saw the game out."
'A lot harder when you've got that home crowd against you'
If Great Britain are to have a chance of adding to their two medals in previous Olympic women's curling competitions - gold in 2002 and bronze in 2014 - they will almost certainly need to win their last two round-robin games.
Muirhead said, "I think our last two games are going to be tough. You can't get complacent about any game, as they're all very hard. We've got China tomorrow, the home nation, so it's always a lot harder when you've got that home crowd against you.
"I think we've just got to take each day and each game as it comes. Of course, this is what we wanted to do, get in this position.
"I think every Olympic Games, at least the last two anyway, this is the position I've been in and we love pressure. It seems to be when we play best."
'Always hungry to get on that podium'
Muirhead's experience will be vital for Team GB in the final run-in at Beijing 2022 as she has experienced both the joy of winning a medal and the agony of fourth place.
"It feels very similar [on her desire for a medal at her fourth Olympics]. Of course, having a medal and then finishing fourth is always very difficult but every Olympic Games I go to I'm hungry to get on that podium.
"First goal is to make the top four and once we do that – if it happens – we then start again and take each game at a time.
"We're all really hungry to carry on playing well out there. We know we're capable of playing some really good games.
"We've proven that and I don't think we've had one game where I've come off and thought 'that wasn't good, that was terrible'.
"I think every game we've been very, very close and we're very clinical. We've just got to keep it going."
When and where to watch the GB women's curling team at Beijing 2022
The full schedule for the women's curling competition is here.
From the Opening Ceremony to athlete action, here's where and how you can watch the Winter Games in your region via the Official Olympic Broadcast Partners.
Keep up with all the action in our Live Blog updates throughout Beijing 2022, here.