Witer Olympics: Team GB curling's family affair, Eileen Gu's must-have mascot - Beijing diary

All is fair in love and (curling) war

Poor British curling coach Kristian Lindstrom. He saw Eve Muirhead's rink booked their place in the Olympic final in a thriller with Sweden - and then had to comfort Johanna Hedlin, his fiancee.

"The immediate feeling was 100 percent joy and then I saw how sad Johanna was," he said. "The wedding is meant to be in 2024, if they allow me back in Sweden."

Master Murdoch admits Apprentice Mouat has his number

David Murdoch, the last British skip to contest an Olympic final, has no doubts who’d win in a showdown with Bruce Mouat.

Murdoch took silver eight years ago in Sochi and is now head coach to Mouat’s class of 2022, that includes Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan.

He lost a one-sided final to Canada in Russia but beat Sweden’s Niklas Edin, Mouat’s gold medal match opponent, in the semi-finals.

“I don’t think there is much doubt if Bruce’s rink played mine from 2014, they’d win,” said Murdoch. “The game’s changed a lot and it’s a lot more technical and these teams train so much harder than we did.

“We’ve made sure we’ve always got all the data that we have on them to know what strategy to take to play against them, Bruce is much more a student of that than I was.

“I also think the type of training we’ve done the last four years has really taken the level up and a lot of teams look at us because of that, there isn’t a fitter team around.

“Niklas is very experienced, I’ve played him loads and so has Bruce. We don’t have anything to fear and our recent record against them is really good, we beat them in the round robins here and twice at the European Championships, including the final.”

Kersten's rewriting the record books - and getting faster

Cornelius Kersten produced the best British Olympic speed skating performance in nearly six decades - and vowed he’s just getting started.

Kersten ranked ninth in the men’s 1000m, with his time of 1:08.79 just three tenths off Norwegian bronze medallist Haavard Holmefjord Lorentzen.

Kersten and girlfriend Ellia Smeding were the first British speed skaters at the Games since Albertville 1992 and this display in his preferred event is the best Team GB result since Terry Malkin’s eighth-place in the 10,000m at the 1964 Games in Innsbruck.

“On the one hand I’m really happy but to be that close to the podium is slightly frustrating. Those three tenths were really in there,” said Kersten, 27. “This is the hardest 1000m I’ve ever done and I’m pretty proud of myself but it was so close.

“I need just another year of hard work and good training to really close that gap, this is my first year training at a world level and look how close I’ve come. If you compare me with my rivals, I just need another year to get a lot closer to them.”

Gu mascot

The hottest ticket in the closed loop is any merchandise themed on incredibly popular Games mascot Bing Dwen Dwen.

400 million Weibo users interact with the panda mascot on a daily basis and any furry replica carries a sky-high ransom.

The shop in the Main Media Centre opens at 10am and accredited members of the closed loop started queuing at 6am to get their hands on one.

It’s nigh-on impossible - unless you’re the face of the Games, that is.

Having won her second gold and third medal, Eileen Gu sashayed into the halfpipe mixed zone sporting a rare Bing Dwen Dwen panda hat and wore it in the press conference.

"You know how Bing Dwen Dwen is very rare right now and people can’t find it? So this is like the ultimate collectable, so I kind of had to flex because how sick is this?"

Gu said she got it from one of her sponsors, Anta. The Chinese sportswear company made uniforms for the Chinese Olympic team as well as Beijing 2022 workers.

Incidentally 30 brands have had skin in Gu’s success here and the freeski megastar, soon to enrol at Stanford University, stands to make more than $30 million from this Olympics.

Czech bobber

Most bobsleigh teams count to three before starting their run but Czech brakeman Jakub Nosek does things differently.

The 32-year-old is almost completely deaf having lost all of his hearing in his right ear and 85% in his left after contracting meningitis when he was three years old.

Beijing 2022 is Nosek’s second Olympic Games and he finished 15th in the 2-man event.

“It’s a little bit of pressure, but I feel OK. I’ve been doing it for eight years, so I’m used to it,” said Nosek.

He is also a veteran of the Deaflympics, having competed in high jump, long jump, decathlon and javelin throw at three editions.

The last two years, however, have posed a unique challenge. "I read lips but I can’t read it now. It's harder in the last two years because people are wearing masks.”

By the numbers

Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe is likely to end the Games as its top athlete with four golds and five biathlon medals.

He is the second biathlete to win four gold medals at a single Olympics after compatriot Ole Einar Bjorndalen in 2002.

Boe is the 14th athlete to win five medals at a single Games, joined in the feat by team-mate Marte Olsbu Roiseland and Frenchman Quentin Fillon Maillet.

Fillon Maillet nearly became the first to win six medals at one Winter Olympics but missed three targets in the mass start and finished fourth.

Quote of the Day

Team USA curling skip John Shuster, 39, was asked about his future in the sport after missing out to Canada in the bronze medal match.

“I am going to go home and go on a date with my wife. Then I will take one of my kids fishing and play video games with my other kid. Maybe then I’ll do a little fishing with my dad. Just a little downtime.”

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