Team GB bid to end 102-year wait for gold in Olympic curling final
Bruce Mouat leads Team GB into the Winter Olympic curling final against Canada on Saturday, aiming to end a 102-year wait for a men’s gold medal.
Millions are expected to tune in at 18:05 GMT to witness the showdown in Cortina.
The British quartet are seeking the nation’s fourth gold of these Games high in the Italian Dolomites.
History weighs on Mouat’s men
Curling first appeared at the Winter Games in 1924, which remains the last time a British men’s team stood atop the podium.
Since that inaugural victory in Chamonix, the country has claimed a medal on only two other occasions.
Mouat’s rink were forced to settle for silver four years ago in Beijing after a narrow defeat by Sweden.
There is also the spectre of Sochi 2014 to banish this weekend.
Old rivalries reignited
That final in Russia saw a GB side lose to a Canadian team skipped by Brad Jacobs.
Jacobs returns to lead the opposition again on Saturday, looking to inflict further heartbreak on his transatlantic rivals.
The narrative is complicated by the presence of current GB coaches Michael Goodfellow and Greg Drummond.
Both men were part of the British team defeated by Jacobs a decade ago.
Furthermore, former GB skip David Murdoch will be watching from the opposing camp as Canada’s high-performance director.
The pantomime villains
The North American outfit have endured a turbulent tournament in Italy leading up to this gold medal match.
Their campaign has been marred by accusations of cheating and heated verbal exchanges across the ice.
Counter-claims regarding illicit filming and intentional physical contact have seen them cast as the competition’s pantomime villains.
Despite the controversy, they proved their quality by beating the British rink during the round-robin stage earlier this month.
Saturday promises a tense tactical battle as Mouat attempts to reverse that result and rewrite the history books.