The opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics doesn’t start until Friday night, but the first competitions get underway on Wednesday evening – including a pair of Aussie underdogs!
While curling dates back to the 16th century and was part of the maiden 1924 Winter Olympics, it has been officially part of the program since 1988. But unsurprisingly, given Australia has no dedicated curling rink and funding is threadbare, this year will see Australia’s first-ever Olympians compete in the sport.
Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt will compete in the second-ever edition of the Mixed Doubles tournament – and they know just how much of a fairytale it is.
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There have been comparisons made around the world to Jamaica’s famous 1988 bobsleigh team that inspired the ‘Cool Runnings’ film.
“I think it has been mentioned that it’s kind of a Cool Runnings story, just because it’s so hot [in Australia], and curling is not very common,” says Gill. “That’s really cool.”
While rivals around the world – including the dominant Canada – are often full-time professionals, Gill is studying to be a primary school teacher and Hewitt works as an exercise physiologist.
But the duo managed to finish an impressive fourth at the last World Championships in 2019, though they couldn’t repeat the feat last year with a 13th place finish at the event.
That left them walking a tightrope in a do-or-die qualification tournament in the Netherlands in December.
They won all seven of their matches – including a deciding 6-5 win over South Korea that went down to the final end, when 22-year-old Gill dislodged a Korean stone to book the Aussie pair’s place in history.
But if that story wasn’t dramatic enough, Gill tested positive for coronavirus upon arrival in Beijing. Sent into isolation, she subsequently received two negative tests and was cleared to compete.
The dramatic twist saw the pair miss out on a full day of practice in the ‘Ice Cube’ – the famous Beijing arena that was known as the ‘Water Cube’ while hosting swimming and diving in the 2008 Summer Games.
The duo begin their campaign against the USA at 11.05pm AEDT.
Hewitt and Gill will play round-robin games every day, with the competition concluding in a gold medal match next Tuesday.
But they won’t be the only Aussies on the ice, with curling umpire Sandy Gagnon also making her Olympic debut.
“It’s amazing actually, I’m sure just like the athletes, this is the pinnacle … it is very, very exciting,” Gagnon said.
HOW DO I WATCH?
The Games will be broadcast in Australia by Channel 7 and streamed on 7 Plus.
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