{"id":3380,"date":"2018-02-26T14:39:58","date_gmt":"2018-02-26T19:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=3380"},"modified":"2018-02-26T14:39:58","modified_gmt":"2018-02-26T19:39:58","slug":"u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Men\u2019s Curling Team an Olympic Cinderella Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2018\/02\/4208306580_118659686e_b.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3381\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2018\/02\/4208306580_118659686e_b.jpg\" alt=\"4208306580_118659686e_b\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a>The Olympics are always exciting, but little is more exhilarating than a dramatic upset especially in a sport that is normally dominated by one or two nations. Yet, that is exactly what happened in Olympic curling last week. In the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, John Shuster\u2019s teams finished last and second to last in the Games. He was ridiculed on social media, and his name was made an Urban Dictionary verb for failure.<\/p>\n<p>The joke, however, is on Shuster\u2019s haters. The 2018 U.S. team was consistently on the edge of being eliminated from the tournament, but they managed to defeat the Canadians on Thursday. Canada has taken home the gold in each of the last three winter Olympics, while no U.S. team had ever done better than the bronze. In the eighth of ten ends, however, the U.S. took the lead. The Americans\u2019 eventual two point victory over Canada, however, guaranteed that the Americans would have a record breaking Olympics. At worst, they would take the silver.<\/p>\n<p>The gold medal match was between the U.S. \u201crejects\u201d and the team from Sweden who defeated the Swiss by six points. The gold medal match was a long back-and-forth game that slowly ramped up the intensity and pressure on all the players. Late in the game, however, the Americans again took control of the game. They used a blockbuster eighth end to seize a five point advantage that Sweden never managed to overcome. The final score was 10 to seven in the U.S.\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n<p>Each end had its own drama, including one end that was so close a special device had to be brought out to measure which stone was closest and thus which team got the point. \u201cWe play a game that comes down to millimeters,\u201d Canadian curler, Marc Kennedy commented. \u201cIt\u2019s a really\u2026hard game at this level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. team was ecstatic to win the gold especially after starting the tournament well behind the nations who were predicted to win medals. \u201cWe\u2019ve played our best when our backs were up against the wall,\u201d said U.S. curler Tyler George. \u201cWe took it to another level this week. Usually we\u2019re fighting and scraping to get into the playoffs but for five days we were the best team in the world and we did it at the right time\u2026We always knew we had it in us, but to do it when it matters most is what I\u2019m most proud of overall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shuster called the American team\u2019s win a story of \u201credemption,\u201d and curler Matt Hamilton said that the win felt \u201calmost unbelievable.\u201d Despite the team\u2019s impossible success, Shuster surprised interviewers when he was ask to pick out a memory that made this victory so sweet. \u201cI look back at 2006 and standing on the podium and getting an Olympic medal and that being one of the most incredible moments of life,\u201d Shuster said. \u201cThat\u2019s when I knew that, for me, I wanted to go there, sing my national anthem on the top of a podium.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shuster got his dream, and when the national anthem played, he was not singing alone. His \u201cragtag\u201d team of victorious underdogs joined him in song.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Olympics are always exciting, but little is more exhilarating than a dramatic upset especially in a sport that is normally dominated by one or two nations. Yet, that is exactly what happened in Olympic curling last week. In the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, John Shuster\u2019s teams finished last and second to last in the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":616,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,111,18],"tags":[705,83,788],"class_list":["post-3380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-courage-and-strength","category-entertainment","category-inspiring-celebrities","tag-olympics","tag-sports","tag-underdog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>U.S. Men\u2019s Curling Team an Olympic Cinderella Story<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The U.S. Men\u2019s Curling team managed to claim America\u2019s first gold in the sport after spending most of the Olympic tournament on the verge of elimination.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U.S. Men\u2019s Curling Team an Olympic Cinderella Story\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The U.S. Men\u2019s Curling team managed to claim America\u2019s first gold in the sport after spending most of the Olympic tournament on the verge of elimination.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiration Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-26T19:39:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/files\/2018\/02\/4208306580_118659686e_b.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephanie Hertzenberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"U.S. Men\u2019s Curling Team an Olympic Cinderella Story","description":"The U.S. Men\u2019s Curling team managed to claim America\u2019s first gold in the sport after spending most of the Olympic tournament on the verge of elimination.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"U.S. Men\u2019s Curling Team an Olympic Cinderella Story","og_description":"The U.S. Men\u2019s Curling team managed to claim America\u2019s first gold in the sport after spending most of the Olympic tournament on the verge of elimination.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html","og_site_name":"Inspiration Report","article_published_time":"2018-02-26T19:39:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/files\/2018\/02\/4208306580_118659686e_b.jpg"}],"author":"Stephanie Hertzenberg","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html","name":"U.S. Men\u2019s Curling Team an Olympic Cinderella Story","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/files\/2018\/02\/4208306580_118659686e_b.jpg","datePublished":"2018-02-26T19:39:58+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-26T19:39:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/2accd57241ae3de281b15e255b66b126"},"description":"The U.S. Men\u2019s Curling team managed to claim America\u2019s first gold in the sport after spending most of the Olympic tournament on the verge of elimination.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/files\/2018\/02\/4208306580_118659686e_b.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/files\/2018\/02\/4208306580_118659686e_b.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2018\/02\/u-s-mens-curling-team-olympic-cinderella-story.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"U.S. Men\u2019s Curling Team an Olympic Cinderella Story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/","name":"Inspiration Report","description":"Inspiration News, Life Advice and Emotional Wellness","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/2accd57241ae3de281b15e255b66b126","name":"Stephanie Hertzenberg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/080\/080e3b9c5b3764a74a7323d03c0bfb80x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/080\/080e3b9c5b3764a74a7323d03c0bfb80x96.jpg","caption":"Stephanie Hertzenberg"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/authors\/s\/stephanie-hertzenberg.aspx"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/author\/shertzenberg"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/616"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3380"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3382,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3380\/revisions\/3382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}