After the ice hockey, these were the two events that host Canada had high expectations of winning gold medals. Despite the winning heritage of Canadian curling, doubts still existed about the teams chosen for Vancouver. Kevin Martin, had been heavily favoured to win two previous Olympic tournaments but had only a silver to show for his efforts, whilst Cheryl Bernard’s women were untested in world or Olympic competition. Additionally the Canadians had missed gold at the 2009 World Championships with the Scottish men, who would compete as Great Britain at the 2010 Games, and the newly emergent Chinese women, earning the titles.
The 6,000 seat Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre in Hillcrest Park hosted the tournament and crowds were large and, unusually for curling, boisterous. More than once an appeal had to be made for the spectators to calm down.
The Canadian men did not disappoint, going through the tournament undefeated and taking the gold medal with a 6-3 victory against Norway. The Norwegian men did make a name for themselves of sorts by the harlequin design trousers they wore throughout the tournament. The Canadian women advanced to the final having suffered only one defeat to reigning world champions China on route. However, in a tense final that went to an extra end, it was reigning Olympic champions Sweden who took the honours, much to the shock of the host nation.
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