Canada, who were mired in a cheating controversy earlier in the tournament, beat Great Britain 9-6 in a tense final to win Olympic men’s curling gold for the fourth time on Saturday.
Brad Jacobs’s team secured their country’s first title in the event since defeating Britain in the 2014 gold-medal match in Sochi.
Britain had to settle for a third silver medal in the last four Olympic men’s curling competitions after slipping up in the last two ends in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
They are still waiting for a first men’s title since 1924, after which curling was absent from the Olympic programme for 74 years.
The tournament was marred by controversy earlier in the Milan-Cortina Games after Canadian Marc Kennedy insulted a Swedish opponent who accused of cheating.
The spat led to fears that curling was losing its once genteel image and the Canadians faced criticism in their own national media.
After winning the title on Saturday, Kennedy said: “It means the world to me to see my teammates with a medal around their neck.
“I don’t know if people will ever understand what we went through this week as a team, what I put them through this week as a team. I’m just so proud of them. I love these guys.
“There was a lot of hate out there this week, but we made a choice to not let any of that hate in the room, not give it a voice in our heads, and just trust one another.”
After trailing 4-3 at the halfway stage of the final, Britain edged ahead with a two in the sixth end.
The teams traded points after that until Canada struck a crucial blow in the penultimate end.
Canadian skip Jacobs successfully secured a three for his team, although his yellow stone slipping out of the house prevented a four and gave Britain a glimmer of hope heading into the 10th at 8-6 behind.
Bruce Mouat’s Britain were beaten in an extra end by Sweden in the 2022 final, but they could not even force that this time as their opponents held their nerve.
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