OLYMPIANS Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat will have inspired another generation of curlers despite narrowly missing out on the curling final in Beijing, the head of Scottish Curling has said.
The pair will compete for an Olympic bronze medal today, after a mixed doubles semi-final defeat to Norway.
But speaking after their loss, Bruce Crawford said the young athletes have been “great ambassadors” for curling and will have encouraged more people to take up the “addictive” sport.
The chief executive of Scottish Curling said the defeat was a “huge disappointment” but that both curlers should be proud of their performances so far at their first Winter Olympics.
Crawford, who watched the semi-final at Edinburgh Curling where Mouat and Dodds first learned to play, said: “We were all cheering Bruce and Jen on, hoping they could get Team GB into the final.
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“It is a huge disappointment that they didn’t manage to do that yesterday, but all credit to them they got us this far and we just need to look forward to the next game.
“We’ve already played and beaten Sweden so we need to do that again [today] and I just look at the positives that we can from this to take forward.
“Bruce and Jen have been great ambassadors of the sport, they’ll get more people trying curling so hopefully they’ll inspire the next generation to come up.
“They’re a young pair of athletes so there’s a real sense of excitement, and we’re just getting warmed up for the men’s and women’s events too.”
Crawford added: “We were very confident that Bruce and Jen, as world champions coming into this event, would reach the knockout stages, which they’ve done.
He continued: “The margins are very small, all of the opponents are able to capitalise on the slightest mistake and put you under pressure to make those difficult shots. Hopefully they’ll come away with a medal today.”
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