U.S. team takes the gold in curling, a dramatic win and historic Olympic moment
Despite the insane odds, Team USA is bringing home a gold medal for a beloved sport which confuses many: curling.
It's the sort of story that prompts a cinematic retelling years later. After losing to Norway less than a week ago, the U.S. men's curling team was put into the tough spot of being one loss away from elimination.
John Shuster, along with teammates Tyler George, Matt Hamilton, John Landsteiner, and alternate Joe Polo then went on to win five consecutive matches while their home country was asleep on Saturday. The team's final win against Sweden with a 10-7 victory made Olympic history as the first gold medal the U.S. team has ever won in the sport.
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Unlike Sweden, which was ranked first in curling, the United States is not known for the sport, despite surging interest in recent years. The odd sport warranted a Mashable explainer. You know, so those cheering on Team USA could feel a little more comfortable and a little less confused.
Shuster has become the de facto face of U.S. curling, given that he's competed in the last four Winter Olympics, consecutively. According to the New York Times, Shuster was ready to give up after losing to Norway last week.
Image: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
"This is silly," Shuster told himself. "I’m getting my heart broken, I feel like, by this sport — and this is silly. Seriously, this is the Olympics."
But miraculously, Shuster managed to band his team together, and do what many thought was impossible. The team lead pulled off the "biggest shot in the history of American curling" on Saturday night, according to the Times. The shot cleared two Swedish stones with his final rock of the eighth end which scored him 5 points. This move made Team USA impassable.
“During the entire end, we could kind of feel it building,” Shuster said. “Their margin for error got incredibly small.”
Congrats to Team USA, and especially Shuster. Someone's going to need to update this Urban Dictionary submission, which defines "shuster" as "a verb meaning to fail to meet expectations, particularly at a moment critical for success or even slightly respectable results."
