U.S. opens Olympics with curling win

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - In 2008, American swimmer Michael Phelps made history at Beijing’s National Aquatics Center as he won eight Olympic gold medals. Two of his most-memorable moments were a .08 win over France in the 4 x 100m relay, and a .01 win over Serbian Milorad “Milo” Čavić. Thirteen years later in the same building, which is temporarily repurposed for curling, U.S. athletes are still finding ways to eek out nail-biting wins on the Olympic stage.

Under much-different circumstances, at the first day of competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, the American mixed doubles curling duo of Vicky Persinger (Fairbanks, Alaska) and Chris Plys (Duluth, Minn.) were one throw away from losing to the Australian pair of Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt.

As the Americans’ yellow stone rested near the center of the button (curling’s term for “bullseye”), a panicked final throw from Gill, failed to knock over any rocks, as Plys and Persinger stole the 6-5 victory at the Center, once known as the “Water Cube”.

This win was actually a comeback effort from the Stars & Stripes. At the end of the sixth end, the United States was behind 5-3- until a double take-out from Persinger tied up the match.

The Alaska-Minnesota duo will try to be 2-0 this evening as they face the Italian pair of Stefania Constanti and Amos Mosaner, who have not yet had a game. The tossing, sweeping and shouting can be seen and heard 7 p.m. CST on the USA Network.

KCBD’s coverage of the 2022 Olympics begins 7 p.m. Thursday as team figure skating gets underway, along with men and women’s moguls skiing. Friday’s live airing of the opening ceremony begins 5:30 a.m. CST, following by a rebroadcast of the opening ceremony 7 p.m.