Reigning world champion Chinese women earn bronze in first curling Olympics, beat Switzerland

China beats Swiss, bounces back for bronze medal

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — In the end, Wang Bingyu gave her coach plenty to celebrate: China is going home with some hardware from its first Olympics in curling.

Wang, better known as “Betty,” and the reigning world champion Chinese women bounced back from a semifinal loss to defending champion Sweden to earn a bronze medal Friday, beating Switzerland 12-6 in a shortened eight-end match.

Four days after China’s Canadian-bred coach, Dan Rafael, called out his players for having a lack of passion following a shortened 7-4 nine-end to Russia, the Chinese broke into tears and players rushed over to greet Rafael with a long embrace.

This is a big disappointment for Swiss skip Mirjam Ott, who had brought home back-to-back silver medals from the last two Olympics.