RHONA MARTIN, who led Great Britain to their first gold medal in five Winter Olympics in 2002, today begins her defence of the title she won in Salt Lake City. The team’s first match, against Denmark this afternoon, is one that Martin dare not lose. If she does, the task of winning here will look immediately beyond Britain.
Denmark are among the outsiders in the ten-team competition and Martin’s rink need an early boost after they failed to reach the semi-finals of the European Championships in their last significant tournament.
Only Martin and Debbie Knox from the five who secured gold in Salt Lake remain in the squad after the selection process was altered, preventing Martin from assembling her own team. It means that Jackie Lockhart, her longstanding rival, is now in the team with her. However, Martin does not expect any problems. “In the last six weeks we have spent a lot of time together on ice and got to know each other well,” she said.
Her rink plays only one match today in the round-robin series that involves every nation playing one or two matches each day until next Monday.
The Britain men’s squad, skipped by David Murdoch, play twice today. Murdoch, who has won world silver and European bronze, is Britain’s best medal hope in all sports. His team will need to beat Italy and New Zealand today.