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| Event type

Curling, Men

Date16 – 27 February 2010
StatusOlympic
LocationVancouver Olympic Centre, Vancouver
Participants47 from 10 countries
FormatRound-robin pool, followed by single-elimination medal round.

As the sport holds a position in the national sporting psyche that places it second only to ice hockey in the nation’s affections this was one of the events that Canada had targeted at the outset to win the gold medal, although with stern competition expected from reigning world champions Great Britain (Scotland). Nevertheless both started the competition nervously, Canada with a 7-6 win over Norway which required an extra end, and Great Britain losing 6-4 to reigning European champions, Sweden. As the round-robin phase progressed, the Canadian team, led by Kevin Martin, won all of their nine contests to finish at the top of their group. Norway and Switzerland, with seven and six wins respectively, also progressed to the semi-finals. However Great Britain were inconsistent throughout and eventually lost again to Sweden, 7-6, in a tie-break match to determine the last semi-finalist.

In the semi-finals, the contest between Canada and Sweden was close until around the halfway stage, when Canada won two points in both the fifth and sixth ends to put them in command, eventually winning the game 6-3. The other contest between Norway and Switzerland was a closer affair, although Norway were never behind. Three points behind going into the last end, Switzerland could only pull back one point to leave Norway the 7-5 winners.

The bronze medal contest, which featured a rare quadruple takeout by Sweden’s Niklas Edin, was very close, with never more than one point difference between the teams. Going into the final end, Sweden led by 4-3, but the Swiss had the advantage of the last stone. Swiss skip Ralph Stöckli scored the two points he needed to win the contest and the bronze medal by 5-4.

Despite their smooth passage to the final some doubts remained about the Canadians and in particular their skip Kevin Martin. Twice before, in the 2002 Olympics and more recently the 2009 World Championships, he had thrown disastrous final stones which robbed his team of the championship. In the event the final was controlled by Canada all the way. The Norwegians, who were now becoming well known for their harlequin design trousers they wore during their contests, found themselves 3-0 down at the half way stage. Although they scored two points on the sixth end, that was as close as they got, as the Canadians immediately replied with two points of their own in the next end, and went on to win the contest 6-3. This had been the first occasion that a team had been undefeated in an Olympic curling tournament since the sport’s re-introduction into the Olympics in 1998.

PosTeamNOCWLPtsForAgt%
1CanadaCAN110228742Gold
2NorwayNOR83167454Silver
3SwitzerlandSUI74146355Bronze
4SwedenSWE66126469
5Great BritainGBR55106351
6GermanyGER4584860
7FranceFRA3663763
8People's Republic of ChinaCHN2745260
9DenmarkDEN2744563
10United StatesUSA2744359

Round-Robin (16 – 23 February 2010)

Round-robin pool. First four qualified for semi-finals. Tie breakers were played in case of ties.

PosNOCWLPtsForAgt
1CAN90187536Q
2NOR72146443Q
3SUI63125344Q
=4SWE54105052q
=4GBR54105744q
6GER4584860
7FRA3663763
8CHN2745260
9DEN2744563
10USA2744359

Match #1 16 Feb 09:00SWE 6 – 4GBR
Match #2 16 Feb 09:00CAN 7 – 6NOR
Match #3 16 Feb 09:00GER 7 – 5USA
Match #4 16 Feb 09:00SUI 6 – 5DEN
Match #5 16 Feb 19:00CAN 9 – 4GER
Match #6 16 Feb 19:00FRA 6 – 5CHN
Match #7 16 Feb 19:00NOR 6 – 5USA
Match #8 17 Feb 14:00GBR 9 – 4FRA
Match #9 17 Feb 14:00SUI 7 – 6USA
Match #10 17 Feb 14:00CHN 8 – 1DEN
Match #11 17 Feb 14:00SWE 6 – 3GER
Match #12 18 Feb 09:00DEN 7 – 6USA
Match #13 18 Feb 09:00NOR 7 – 4GER
Match #14 18 Feb 09:00CAN 7 – 3SWE
Match #15 18 Feb 09:00SUI 4 – 3GBR
Match #16 18 Feb 19:00SWE 6 – 5CHN
Match #17 18 Feb 19:00GBR 9 – 6DEN
Match #18 18 Feb 19:00NOR 7 – 4SUI
Match #19 18 Feb 19:00CAN 12 – 5FRA
Match #20 19 Feb 14:00GER 7 – 6SUI
Match #21 19 Feb 14:00CAN 10 – 3DEN
Match #22 19 Feb 14:00USA 4 – 3FRA
Match #23 19 Feb 14:00NOR 7 – 5CHN
Match #24 20 Feb 09:00NOR 6 – 3DEN
Match #25 20 Feb 09:00GER 9 – 4FRA
Match #26 20 Feb 09:00GBR 9 – 4CHN
Match #27 20 Feb 09:00USA 8 – 7SWE
Match #28 20 Feb 19:00SUI 9 – 5CHN
Match #29 20 Feb 19:00FRA 5 – 4SWE
Match #30 20 Feb 19:00CAN 7 – 6GBR
Match #31 21 Feb 14:00GBR 4 – 2USA
Match #32 21 Feb 14:00SWE 8 – 7NOR
Match #33 21 Feb 14:00CAN 6 – 4SUI
Match #34 21 Feb 14:00DEN 9 – 5GER
Match #35 22 Feb 09:00NOR 9 – 2FRA
Match #36 22 Feb 09:00CAN 7 – 2USA
Match #37 22 Feb 09:00GER 7 – 6CHN
Match #38 22 Feb 09:00SUI 7 – 3SWE
Match #39 22 Feb 19:00GBR 8 – 2GER
Match #40 22 Feb 19:00FRA 6 – 5DEN
Match #41 22 Feb 19:00CHN 11 – 5USA
Match #42 23 Feb 14:00CAN 10 – 3CHN
Match #43 23 Feb 14:00SWE 7 – 6DEN
Match #44 23 Feb 14:00NOR 9 – 5GBR
Match #45 23 Feb 14:00SUI 6 – 2FRA

Tie-Breaker (24 February 2010 — 14:00)

Single-elimination match.

Match #1 24 Feb 14:00SWE 7 – 6GBR

Semi-Finals (25 February 2010)

Single-elimination matches.

Match #1 25 Feb 14:00CAN 6 – 3SWE
Match #2 25 Feb 14:00NOR 7 – 5SUI

Final Round (27 February 2010)

Classification matches.

Match 1/2 27 Feb 15:00CAN 6 – 3NOR
Match 3/4 27 Feb 09:00SUI 5 – 4SWE