Team Kim's Olympic journey ends with 8-4 loss to Sweden

From left: Kim Seon-yeong, Kim Cho-hi, Kim Eun-jung and Kim Kyeong-ae wait for their opponents during a curling match against Denmark on Wednesday. [AP/YONHAP]

Korea's Team Kim narrowly missed out on a chance to advance to the semifinals of the women's curling tournament at the 2022 Beijing Olympics on Thursday, losing their final game of the round robin tournament to Sweden.

Team Kim entered the final game of the tournament tied for fourth place, needing a win to be in with a chance of reaching the semifinals and defending their silver medal from the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. For Sweden the result of the match was immaterial as the country had already locked in a semifinal spot in second place.

Sweden had the last stone to start the game, but Korea were able to hold them to a draw in the first end and then steal two stones in the second.

Team Kim held on to the momentum over the following few ends, and it wasn't until the sixth end that Sweden was able to tie the score at 3-3. Korea pulled ahead again in the seventh, but then allowed Sweden to take two in the eighth to take a late 5-4 lead.

Sweden added one more in the ninth end, leaving Korea to overcome a two point deficit in the final end. Sweden quickly crowded the house and Korea was unable to pull off a much-needed take-out, dropping another two points to lose the game 8-4.

With the loss, Korea suddenly plummet from fourth to eighth place, with some unfortunate head-to-head records sending them almost to the bottom of the table.

Switzerland and Sweden both advance to the semifinals in first and second place, with Great Britain and Japan joining them.

Great Britain, Japan and Canada all tied on five wins and four losses, but with the Olympic competition breaking a tie based on the draw shot challenge, the average distance of all the individual last stone draws throughout the tournament, Canada fell to fifth place behind Great Britain in third and Japan in fourth.

Team Kim end their Olympic journey with four wins and five losses across the nine-game round robin tournament. After starting their Games with a loss to Canada, Team Kim rallied to beat Great Britain and the ROC before losing to China and the United States.

Korea once again rallied with a big win over Japan, before losing to Switzerland on Wednesday morning and beating Denmark on Wednesday evening. Thursday's game against Sweden rounded off the round robin tournament.

Across all nine games, Team Kim appeared to better against stronger teams, with their losses to the lower-ranked United States and China ultimately costing them the tournament.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]