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CURLING

Swedes claim Paralympic curling bronze

The Swedish curling team has claimed the bronze at the Paralympics overcoming the USA 7-5 in Vancouver on Saturday. The host nation, Canada won the gold after beating the Koreans 8-7.

Swedes claim Paralympic curling bronze

Sweden played without an alternate, after officials suspended Glenn Ikonen on Friday after a random drug test detected a beta blocker in his body.

The drug is used to control high blood pressure and Ikonen, who said it was prescribed by his doctor in Sweden, told reporters he had not intentionally taken a drug on the banned list.

Canadian wheelchair curling skip Jim Armstrong led his team to a gold medal win Saturday in the final match of the Paralympic Winter Games, narrowly beating Korea 8-7.

The Canadians reached their final score midway through the game in the fourth end. Tension rose in the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre as the Korean team, skipped by Kim Haksung, edged a little bit closer with each end of the nail-biting match.

But in the eighth and final end, a rock thrown by Armstrong careened down the sheet of ice to smash one of two Korean rocks out of the rings, averting a possible tie and securing the gold for host Canada in front of a crowd of more than 5,000.

“It’s tremendous and overwhelming,” Armstrong said. “This game really showed that the best part of wheelchair curling is that no lead is safe.”

The Vancouver event was the second time wheelchair curling was included in the Paralympics.

The 10 countries participating were Canada, the US, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

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WINTER OLYMPICS

USA curlers celebrate after beating Sweden in Olympic final, despite medal mishap

America's men's curlers produced a dramatic win over Sweden to win their first Olympic gold medal and delight a growing army of fans back home -- and then received the wrong medals.

USA curlers celebrate after beating Sweden in Olympic final, despite medal mishap
Matt Hamilton of the United States and Sweden's Oskar Eriksson during the men's curling final at Gangneung Curling Centre. Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/TT

Skip John Shuster and his team wore puzzled looks as they realised they had been given women's medals instead of men's after their 10-7 victory on Saturday.

But Shuster brushed off the mix-up as the team celebrated their famous and unexpected victory, which was sealed by a rare five-pointer with two ends to go.

“It's no big deal,” beamed Shuster, who was competing at his fourth Olympics and was part of the USA team that took bronze in Turin in 2006.

“From the first time we stepped onto the ice to the last rock we threw I'll never stop thinking what these guys have done for me,” he added, smiling at his team-mates.

Sweden, whose skip Niklas Edin made a couple of crucial errors, reduced the gap to three points going into the last end but the Swedes finally conceded with one stone left.

Shuster delivered a hammer (last throw) blow that lifted the Americans five points clear 10-5.

“It feels almost unbelievable, but we came out here with great intensity and just had to believe we could do it, and make our shots,” said America's Matt 'Ham' Hamilton.

Carl XVI Gustaf, the Swedish monarch, was amongst the amongst the 3,000 crowd for the final in Gangneung, as was Ivanka Trump, daughter of US president Donald Trump.

The teams were led out for the curling climax by a kilted Korean playing 'Scotland The Brave' on bagpipes, in a nod to the sport's origins in medieval Scotland.

The Swedes were 2-0 up by the second end, but the US team levelled immediately, and went 3-2 up in the fourth end with their yellow stone deemed an infinitesimal amount closer to the tee than Sweden's red.

The irked Swedes make for dangerous foes and they wasted no time bouncing back, skip Edin throwing a perfect hammer to put the Scandinavians back in front at 4-3.

But to enthusiastic support from supporters in stars and stripes, Shuster had his men back in front at 5-4 after a mistake by his opposite number.

Shuster then pulled off his master throw to secure the US a stunning five-pointer to go 10-5 up and earn the US a famous success.

READ ALSO: Sweden's Myhrer wins shock gold in Olympic men's slalom