February 09, 2012
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Pure prairie goldC'mon, we didn't even have to ask. Nor did Sandra Schmirler have to answer. She simply pointed -- at the gold medal Joan McCusker was posing with for pictures from fellow passengers. Even with shouldering all the pressure of a team supposed to win, their whole Olympic experience -- including that terrifying, extra-end semi-final -- culminating in the first gold medal awarded in the sport, was all Schmirler the Curler's Canadian foursome could've asked for. Tears flow in golden glowThe Sandra Schmirler rink from Regina cried and sang O Canada wearing their gold medals, the tears welling up in the eyes of Schmirler and lead Marcia Gudereit, streaming down the face of third Jan Betker. Their 7-5 win yesterday over the surprising Danish rink of Helena Blach Lavrsen, claiming the first women's gold medal in curling, was a job that was well done no doubt, but a job none the less. Harris: 'We sucked'Only on this man, on this night, could a silver medal hang there with the weight of a millstone, as though the weight of a country's unfullfilled expectations were suspended there along with the glittering disc. MORE HEADLINES Archive of Olympic Curling Stories |