Australia curlers earn historic first win after being reinstated despite Tahli Gill testing positive for Covid

ByEurosport

Updated 06/02/2022 at 08:49 GMT

Australia's curling team were due to fly home after Tahli Gill returned a series of positive Covid-19 tests. But after a late medical expert panel meeting in Beijing on Sunday, the team was reinstated into the competition and went on to beat Switzerland for the country's first ever Olympic curling victory.

Tahli Gil

Image credit: Getty Images

Australia recorded their first ever Olympic curling victory after they were reinstated into the competition despite being initially set to fly home because of a positive Covid-19 test.

Tahli Gill returned a series of positive Covid-19 tests and had been placed into isolation. That meant a decision was made for Gill and her mixed doubles partner Dean Hewitt to forfeit their two final round robin matches in Beijing on Sunday and return to Australia.

But just hours later the Chinese public health system's medical expert panel convened to examine Gill’s CT values following PCR testing over the past 24 hours and determined that they fell into an acceptable range.

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As a result, Australia was allowed to continue competing in the curling - and went on to beat Switzerland 9-6 for the country's first Olympic curling victory.

The Australian Olympic Committee said in a statement: "The Australian Olympic Committee has just received an email from the Chinese Public Health System advising that the pair can continue under the close contact provisions."

Australian Olympic Team Chef de Mission Geoff Lipshut said the pair were excited to be able to resume their participation.

"We are thrilled for Tahli and Dean and I am delighted that our headquarters team continued pressing her case, after earlier advice that the pair could no longer compete," he said.

Gill and Hewitt had already been eliminated from the semi-finals after losing their first seven round robin games, sitting bottom of the standings, but had two matches remaining against Switzerland and Canada.

When she thought her games were over, Gill posted an emotional video at around 4am GMT to Instagram on Sunday saying: “We’re just so grateful and proud to put on the green and gold and represent Australia in curling.”

At 6:05 GMT she was in action against Switzerland.

Australia's bad luck of form finally ran out as they beat Switzerland in a tightly contested game. After going 3-0 up after the opening two ends, Switzerland fought their way back and by the halfway stage were 4-3 to the good.

Three end-wins on the bounce in the second period secured the win for Australia, although they remain bottom of the pile.

In the other results, already-qualified Italy continued their unbeaten run with a 8-4 victory against the hosts, whilst Canada moved a step closer to qualification with a 6-5 win over Czech Republic.

Norway kept the pressure on the top four by beating third-place Sweden, a good result for Team GB.

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