Jennifer Jones makes curling history at the Sochi Olympics, meets Great Britain in the semi’s

Jennifer Jones and her team have made the Olympic record books. Now, can they equal another record and score gold?

Jones, third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn McEwen are the first women's curling team in Olympic history to finish a round robin undefeated. Next, they'll meet the reigning world champions from Great Britain, skipped by Eve Muirhead, in semi-final action, on Wednesday.

Canada's 9 - 4 win over South Korea means they have finished the qualifying round at 9 and oh. Win two more and they will equal a record set four years ago by another Canadian rink.

Kevin Martin's 2010 gold medal team had been the only one - men's or women's - to cruise through an entire Olympics round robin undefeated.* (see below) In Vancouver, they ran up a 9 and oh round robin record and then won two straight medal round games to stay perfect. If Jones is to grab the gold medal she and her teammates want so badly, they will have to turn the same trick and leave Sochi with an 11 and oh mark.

Martin's squad had been the only undefeated team in Olympics curling if you don't include the 1924 Olympic Games.

That year, in Chamonix, France, only three countries took part in Olympic curling. Great Britain won the gold by going 2 and oh. In those days, games were 18 ends long and the British team defeated Sweden by a score of 38 - 7 and France by a score of 46 - 4.

Kelley Law skipped Canada to an 8 and 1 record at the 2002 Olympics, then lost the semi-final but rallied to win the bronze medal. In 2010, Cheryl Bernard also led Canada to an 8 and 1 round robin record, then fell to Sweden in the gold medal game. Sandra Schmirler posted a 6 and 1 round robin record at the Nagano Games in 1998, then won twice in the medal round to score the only gold medal Canadian women have won at the Olympics.

Jones and her team, quite obviously, have hit their peak at precisely the right moment, which is just what all Olympians strive for. The chemistry within the team's ranks seems evident on the ice at the Sochi Games, as it did when they very nearly went perfect at the Olympic Trials (one loss). That they are a close knit group comes across clearly in CurlingZone.com's feature on Team Jones, in the "Far From Home" series:

Jones and Team Canada will be on the ice for their semi-final game, Wednesday at 5 am, Eastern time. The Canadians defeated Muirhead's Scottish side, 9 - 6, during the qualifying round. That avenged a serious waxing that Muirhead had laid on Jones' team, a 12 - 2 pasting at last month's Continental Cup.

In the other semi-final, reigning European champion Mirjam Ott skips Switzerland against Sweden, skipped by Margaretha Sigfridsson.

The men's semi's will go at 10 am, Eastern time, with Canada's Brad Jacobs taking on China's Rui Liu.