BEIJING (Reuters) -Australians Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt exited the mixed doubles competition on a high after the “craziest 24 hours”, securing back-to-back victories on Sunday only hours after believing their debut Olympic campaign had been cut short https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/curling-australia-end-mixed-doubles-campaign-after-gill-tests-positive-covid-2022-02-06 due to COVID-19.
The pair, who became the first curlers from Australia to compete at the Games, had to wait five days to register their first win but only six hours for the second, following up on a 9-6 victory over Switzerland with a dramatic 10-8 triumph over Canada.
Gill returned a series of positive tests late on Saturday and had been placed in isolation ahead of her planned return to Australia but on Sunday the pair were cleared by a medical expert panel to continue under the Games’ close contact arrangements.
“It has literally been the craziest, craziest 24 hours,” Gill said on Sunday. “My bags are still packed, I only just had time to pull out my uniforms.
“I was ruffling through my bags and ripping clothes out left, right and centre. I played with only one glove on — and it was the wrong one.”
Hewitt shed light on the moments of chaos that followed their medical reprieve, saying the pair had been preparing to leave for Australia before finding out they had 15 minutes to get to the venue for their match against Switzerland.
“It’s incredible — you walk out there and nearly everyone comes up to you and says, ‘We’re so happy that you’re out here,” Hewitt said. “It just shows the camaraderie between curlers here.”
Australia soared to a 7-0 lead at the halfway stage before reigning Olympic champions Canada fought back to force an extra end but fell short as Gill and Hewitt bested mentor John Morris in the highly anticipated clash.
Morris coached the Australian duo during their historic Olympic qualifying campaign and, teaming up with Rachel Homan, warmed up for the clash with his proteges by escaping with a narrow 7-5 victory over the Czech Republic earlier on Sunday.
However, they face the daunting task of ending Italy’s eight-match unbeaten run to secure a spot in the semi-finals, which will be played on Monday, after both Britain and Norway sealed their place in the last four on Sunday.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma; Editing by Ken Ferris, Shri Navaratnam and Hugh Lawson)
