VANCOUVER — Canadian-bred Chinese curling coach Dan Rafael is so furious with what he calls a lack of passion by his players, he plans to quit coaching this group when his contract is up.
Rafael watched the reigning women world champions lose 7-4 in a shortened nine-end match to Russia on Monday. His players seemed to “think it’s funny,” Rafael said. “We didn’t show up.”
“They looked pretty amused,” he added. “They think it’s funny for whatever reason — you’re at the Olympics. I’m furious.”
The Chinese are 5-3 heading into their final match of round- robin play today against the U.S.
Canada rules this ice
VANCOUVER — On this sheet of ice, it was all Canada.
“Some redemption for the hockey team,” curler Marc Kennedy said.
Kevin Martin’s Canadians (8-0) eliminated the Americans from contention with a shortened 7-2 victory in nine ends. John Shuster’s U.S. team then lost to China 8-5 to finish the Olympics with a 2-7 record.
Norway tops in cross country
WHISTLER, British Columbia — Petter Northug blew past Germany’s Axel Teichmann shortly before the finish to give Norway the gold in the men’s cross country team sprint.
Germany won the silver and Russia the bronze. The U.S. team of Torin Koos and Andrew Newell finished ninth.
• Germany won the women’s team sprint when Claudia Nystad beat Sweden’s Anna Haag across the line by 0.6 seconds.
Americans Caitlin Compton and Kikkan Randall were sixth.
Footnotes.
The Austrians soared to a gold medal in team ski jump, capped by 20-year-old Gregor Schlierenzauer’s final, amazing 146.5-meter jump. Austria defended its title from the Turin Games with 1,107.9 points.
• The U.S. ski jumping team of Anderson Johnson, Peter Frenette, Steamboat Springs’ Taylor Fletcher and Nick Alexander placed 11th in the 12-team field.
• U.S. women’s bobsledder Erin Pac has a strained left hamstring.
• Wang Linuo scored twice to give China a 3-1 win over Slovakia, securing a seventh-place finish in women’s hockey.
• Stefanie Marty scored the tying goal in regulation and then sealed the victory with a shootout goal to lead the Swiss to a 2-1 victory over Russia and a fifth-place finish in women’s hockey.
• Magdalena Neuner of Germany won’t go for a third gold medal, pulling out of the relay today because of exhaustion.
• Police say a 71-year-old bus driver working at the Olympics died of a heart attack while driving other drivers to their depot.
• Finland’s Joni Pitkanen will be suspended for the quarterfinals after getting ejected against Sweden in men’s hockey.
• The ice dancing silver and the guarantee of at least a silver by the women’s hockey team means the U.S. will finish with at least 26 medals — an American record for a Winter Olympics away from home.
The Associated Press
