Australia’s mixed doubles curlers finally won their first games at the Winter Olympics – just a “crazy” few hours being told they had to leave China due to a positive Covid test.
With the team’s bags packed after Tahli Gill returned a series of positive Covid-19 tests, she and her partner, Dean Hewitt, were given a dramatic reprieve. They then had just 15 minutes to race to the venue, with Gill bringing only one glove in the mayhem, but they somehow went on to beat Switzerland 9-6. It was their first victory after seven successive defeats.
The pair then won again later in the day, beating Canada, the defending champions, 10-8.
“It has literally been the craziest, craziest 24 hours,” Gill said. “My bags are still packed, I only just had time to pull out my uniforms. I was ruffling through my bags and ripping clothes out left, right and centre. I played with only one glove on – and it was the wrong one.”
The reprieve came after the Chinese public health system changed its mind after determining the CT values in her PCR tests fell into an acceptable range.
Gill had been showing no symptoms and the Australian team said medical advice was that her infection was at the end of its cycle, which meant she was free to board a flight later on Sunday and would be permitted through customs in Australia.
“It was really devastating given that I wasn’t infectious but after review I’m so incredibly grateful to the medical team to get me out on the ice and I’m able to compete and finish off our campaign on a really positive note,” she said. “We put our hearts and souls into that game – to be able to come back with the win was really awesome.”
Hewitt said the pair had been readmitted to the competition just as they were preparing to leave for the airport. “We had a couple of phone calls that maybe there could be a chance. I was like, ‘Aw, don’t do this to us, please.’ Then we got the official call and we were like, ‘Are you serious?’ We had 15 minutes to get in the taxi.
“It was just crazy, mayhem, getting the uniforms on. The excitement in the room was unbelievable. It was so exciting to be able to get back out on the ice and play these last two games. I’m just so proud of Tahli being able to step up in that game, because I don’t know how I would have been able to get through it myself.”
