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Sochi Olympics women’s curling: Contenders, challengers and long shots
The women's Olympic curling battle begins on Monday, with Canada taking on China (5 am Eastern time).
That signals the beginning of an intense and grueling competition, culminating in a gold medal for one of ten teams a week and a half later.
Here's a look at how the field shapes up, split into three categories:
'Contenders' are those with the best shot at being in the gold medal game, on February 20th. 'Challengers' are those with a good chance at slipping into the playoffs should one or more of the favourites struggle. 'Long shots' are teams that don't have much of a chance at getting to the medal round, much less a gold medal.
(To see the men's edition of "Contenders, challengers and long shots," click here)
CONTENDERS
Canada, led by skip Jennifer Jones, has a little extra pressure on them in this tournament. While Canadian men have won two straight gold medals at Olympic Games, Canadian women have suffered through a drought that stretches back to Sandra Schmirler's victory at Nagano in 1998. Jones and her teammates Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen, were terrific at the Olympic Trials in December, running up a 7 and 1 record, including a dominant win in the final. This is the only major championship the four-time Scotties winner has failed to win and her failure to even qualify for the Olympics in the past was one of the reasons she parted with longtime vice Cathy Overton-Clapham, replacing her with Lawes. On the international stage Jones has struggled in the past, scoring just one world championship, one bronze and missing the podium entirely on two other occasions.
Great Britain is represented by the reigning world champion, Eve Muirhead. At just 23 years old, Muirhead is already established as one of the best women's skips on the planet, having won the big prize in 2013 and previously skipping teams to four world junior championships over the course of five years. As well as last year's world championship, Muirhead led her team to a win at The Players' Championship, in Toronto. This season, she beat an impressive field the Autumn Gold Curling Classic, in Calgary, last fall. At last month's Continental Cup, Muirhead opened the competition by ripping Team Jones, 12-2, in seven ends.
Sweden, the two-time defending Olympic champion, will try to make it three in a row albeit with a different team. Those gold medals in 2006 and 2010 were won by Annette Norberg, but it is Margaretha Sigfridsson who will skip (although she throws lead stones) a veteran-laden team that has plenty of world and European championship experience. In 2013, they won silver at the World Championship, losing in the final to Muirhead. At The Players' Championship, they again finished second to Muirhead. This season, they avenged those losses by beating Muirhead to win the European Championship, in November.
China's Bingyu Wang also skips a team with plenty of international experience. And success. To Sochi she brings the same team that won bronze at the 2010 games. The same team that won the world championship in 2009. As well, this crew scored silver and bronze at the 2008 and 2011 world championships, respectively. Since then, a dramatic fall off and finishes of eleventh and ninth in 2012 and 2013. That meant the Chinese needed to win an Olympic qualifier last December in order to advance to Sochi, which they did, under the supervision of coach Marcel Rocque, the former front end player for Randy Ferbey's three-time world champion rink. Rocque joined the team as coach last summer and he seems to have them back on track.
CHALLENGERS
The home country's team is skipped by Anna Sidorova, who's gotten some pre-Olympics attention over her modeling, recently. There's more here than meets the eye, however, and this is a team that can jump into the podium mix if they can deal with the home crowd pressure. They did not fare well at the European Championship last autumn but they finished second to Muirhead at the International Bernese Ladies Cup, last month in Switzerland. That field also included fellow Olympic competitors Wang, Sigfridsson and Mirjam Ott.
Ott is at Sochi as well, skipping the Swiss National Team. They've had a hot season, winning a tour event last September that included the likes of Muirhead, reigning Canadian champion Rachel Homan and Canadian Olympic qualifier finalist Sherry Middaugh. As well, they finished second to Wang at a tour event in Vernon, B.C., and second to Wang - again - at last month's Glynhill Ladies International in Glasgow, Scotland. Ott won the World championship in 2012 and Olympic silver at both the 2002 and 2006 games.
Korea is represented by team skipped by Ji-Sun Kim. You may remember this team from the 2012 world Championships. That's when they defeated Heather Nedohin's Canadian team, 4-3, in a playoff game that had Nedohin spitting nails afterward, critical of the Korean's simple, defensive style of play. They've shown, then, that they can strategize to frustrate their more formidable opponents. Last fall, they generated offence in a 9-6 win over Chelsea Carey in the final at The China Open.
LONG SHOTS
In this group there are three nations that are least likely to see any medal round action when the round-robin has been completed. The United States, Denmark and Japan are most likely to be at the bottom of the table when the week is done.
OVERVIEW
One curling expert I spoke with in preparing this preview told me that, really, most of the teams in this field could be in the gold medal game if they put it all together. The field is that bunched when it comes to potential. The key is harnessing that potential and the four teams listed as 'contenders' are most likely to do that at Sochi.
Can't argue with Muirhead's pedigree and continued top flight performance. She should be considered the favourite going in.
Jones is no doubt tired of hearing about the times she's fallen short on the international stage. That will make a very determined skip even more determined here and that's a plus.
PREDICTION
You'll see Canada and Great Britain in the gold medal game.
