Beijing 2022 Flash Quotes: Day 7 Morning

Curling Comments from Team GB's men's curling team as skip Bruce Mouat, Hammy McMillan Jr, Bobby Lammie and Grant Hardie lost 9-7 to defending Olympic champions USA in their second round robin game. They are next in action against Norway later today. Bruce Mouat Age: 27 Hometown: Stirling On where things got away from them "I think a mixture of the start that we had wasn't the best of starts. We gave them a quick lead, which isn't the best and you don't really want to see that against a team like that. "We also didn't finish the game very well. I think we had a really good momentum swing in the sixth when we got the steal of two and going into the last few ends we were really trying to force [it]. "I just didn't have my weight control down and I was struggling to make those key draws that would have forced them into tough ones." On why he struggled "I think I was playing a lot of hits in the first few ends and lost my weight control, it's down to fine margins when you are playing key draws. "I never made John [Shuster] face anything too tough, let him off the hook a lot of the time." On coming back for the second game of the day like the women did yesterday "We are all quite aware of what happens when you lose games and bouncing back, we've done it a lot at World Championships. "I'm still looking forward to the game against Norway - if we play well, we will be in a really good spot, we've just got a few things to iron out. "But this is only our second game in a few months, so still getting back to playing with the boys and just need to figure out a few more things." On playing Norway tonight "They've got a lot of experience. Obviously, Torger Nergaard has been to quite a few Olympics himself and all the boys have played Worlds and Europeans. We've got to come out and fire well. "We played them in the Europeans a couple of months' ago and they were playing really well there, they finished fourth. "We do have a good record against Norway. The fact is if we play our best game, we will win the game I'm pretty sure." On USA drawing teams into playing how they want "John and his team have got a lot of experience here. They know how to win games. They are always a team that's going to be up there and you have to play well to beat them. "You can't give them any freebies and that's what we were doing today." On what they can take into week ahead "It's definitely a long week ahead. We obviously know we can fight back in any situation. "We were three down after four ends I think, so to be one up after six is a really good spot to put ourselves in. "It's nice to see we can do that and it gives us a lot of confidence going forward." Comments from Team GB's Eve Muirhead after her women's curling rink of Jennifer Dodds, Vicky Wright and Hailey Duff, lost 9-7 to Korea in their third round robin game. Team Muirhead, who have one win and two losses so far, are next in action against USA tomorrow. Eve Muirhead Age: 31 Hometown: Stirling On the performance "That’s a frustrating one to take, I feel like we had a little bit of control after the eighth end where we got a steal of two. "Unfortunately, if my last stone had curled another millimetre, I think we were looking good to have the hammer last end. "But that's curling isn't it, you win by inches and lose by inches." On the ninth end where Korea scored four "The angles probably weren't quite in our favour and we know curling is all about the angles. "They played a good shot with their skip's first and unfortunately my last did not curl enough." On moving forward "But we've got to move on, we've only played three games and we've been in this position before. "We were in this position in the Olympic qualifier, we'd only won one game and lost two, so we know where we are, we know what we've got to do and of course we are going to come out tomorrow firing." On margin for error "Out there there's zero margin for error, any errors you make, you usually get crucified for them. "Unfortunately today we just didn't get the rubs on our side and maybe we didn't cotton on to the slightly straighter ice conditions early enough, but that’s something we will learn from. "We will learn from our mistakes and move on to tomorrow." On the break until next game tomorrow night against USA "We have actually got quite a bit of time until tomorrow night. We'll go back, analyse this game, learn from what we can do better and learn from what we did well and then just switch off a little bit. "Maybe catch up on a little bit of sleep, probably watch the boys and just enjoy the time here at the Olympics until we need to switch on again tomorrow." On tough start against double world champions Switzerland, Olympic champions Sweden and Olympic silver medallists Korea "I don't think there's any breathing space here, I think every team is such high quality - that's why they are at the Olympic Games. "Yes, we have had a very tough start but it's nothing we've not done before and we know what we need to do and that's to come out a little bit sharper from the start and just get our stones in really good places." On one-game days "One-game days are always a little bit easier to get up for and I think we can get lots of rest between now and then and come out firing tomorrow." Skeleton Comments from Team GB's Laura Deas and Brogan Crowley after the first two runs of the women's skeleton at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre. Deas, who is 31st in the world rankings for 2021/22, sits 21st with Crowley, ranked 26th, in 22nd ahead of tomorrow's final two runs. Laura Deas Age: 33 Hometown: Wrexham On the performance "It's certainly not the outcome I wanted. I came to the start block in a great frame of mind, I put together two good runs that I think I can be proud of. "I can't tell you now why the speed wasn't there, I don't know. I think I did myself proud. I've worked incredibly hard for the last four years to get to the start block today." On returning for runs three and four tomorrow "We're going to have to go back and look at all of it. Review, and try and come back stronger tomorrow. "I need to go back to the hotel, recover as best I can and make sure I'm in good physical shape tomorrow as well as mental shape. "Review everything, and put down two good runs and show everyone what I can do on the sled. I know I'm a good slider." Brogan Crowley Age: 27 Hometown: Greater Manchester; Moorside On the performance on her Olympic debut "I'm pretty proud of the runs I put together to be honest. For me, it was a step up from training. "I got bits in training but haven't been able to put much together. It was definitely progress. "I'm pleased with my push because that's been one of my weak points over the years with my injuries, so I'm quite happy with that." On whether Olympics feel different "No. Ultimately I've been competing on the circuit for the last couple of years and it's the same girls we are competing against week in, week out. Nothing changes, it's exactly the same and it's just like another race really." Cross-Country Skiing Comments from Team GB's Andrew Musgrave and Andrew Young after they finished 46th and 51st in the men's 15km classic. Young will race with James Clugnet in the team sprint on Wednesday before both he and Musgrave compete in the 50km mass start free on 19 February. Andrew Musgrave Age: 31 Hometown: Norway; Trondheim Result: 46th On the performance "It's a tough sport at the best of times and today was not the best of times. "To be honest, I'm super disappointed and at the moment I can't really understand what went on today. "In the build-up to the Olympics everything has gone as planned. I haven't had any issues but today, it's just so far off what I expect and I don't understand." On what went wrong today "It's a bit of everything to be honest. At this altitude, you've got to go out and feel like you've got a bit of gas left in the tank for the second lap. "I felt like the first lap was alright, not too bad, but going out on the second lap when you've got to try and increase the speed, I just felt dead and didn't manage to increase the pace at all. Instead of doing that, I started crawling!" On what he puts the performance down to "I don't know, I've got to have a wee sit down with the coaches and make a plan for what to do for the 50km. "I don't really know to be honest, I don't have a clue what's gone wrong. I've been feeling good in the build-up. Everything has gone to plan." On whether he's felt like this before "It feels a wee bit different. In previous times if I've not raced so fast, there's always been a bit of an explanation. "Classic has always been my weaker discipline and skate should be better. But at the same time, I've got to have a better feeling than that if I'm going to get a solid result in the 50km." On expectations for the 50km mass start on 19 February "All athletes tend to be a bit naive sometimes. I still think I can do a good result in the 50km. "Skate is different than classic - I've got over a week to reset and get ready for it. I think at this altitude, minor adjustments can make a massive difference. I'm still confident." On what he would be happy with in the 50km "I've got to be up with the best guys and fighting for a decent result. "I've been top ten in all the 50km races we've done at the last three World Championships, so I should definitely be in that sort of position, not where I was today. "Right now, a medal feels a long way off but I think it's small adjustments and I have bounced back from tough weekends of World Cup racing and it's gone well the week after. "I've got to evaluate a wee bit and work out what those changes are." Andrew Young Age: 29 (30 tomorrow) Hometown: Norway; Trondheim Result: 51st On the performance "It was a tough day for me. I struggled a little bit to recover after the sprint a few days ago, so I was a bit tired. "That's how the situation [having recently recovered from Covid] is at the moment, so I'll try and make the most out of it. "I pushed hard all the way and made the most out of it. So, with the situation I'm pleased with how it went. "We've got the team sprint on Wednesday, that's the next one and with the situation I've been in, I've been using today to try and get ready for that. Hopefully in that one it will be a bit of a better performance than today." On dealing with factors out of his control affecting performance "It's tough. Sportspeople are quite good with mentality, when stuff like that happens you have to just move on quickly and not dwell on that because it can use lots of energy and you have to move on. "It has changed my goals massively before the Games. "It has changed from being in my best-ever shape and wanting to get top, top results to wanting to just make the best of the situation and do good races tactically and technically - it changes the mentality coming in.” On the team sprint with James Clugnet on Wednesday "I think our absolute dream would be to make the final, which is the top ten teams. "There are a lot of things that have to go right for us to do that, including the draw as the semi-finals are drawn and if we get the right draw we could end up being in the final, but that is a tough and lofty ambition for us. "Obviously, Jimmy didn't have the best race in the individual sprint [coming 40th]. And I've not been in the best shape with all things considered. "We will definitely do everything we can to make that final and if we did that it would be fantastic." On his fourth Olympics and his journey in last month "Three weeks ago, I thought I wasn't going to make it at all. Over the last three weeks it has definitely changed a lot, with a lot of appreciation for what the Games mean for cross-country skiing and what they mean for me as an athlete. "Just to get here was like, 'wow, yeah, that is actually an achievement and something I'm really proud of.' "Whereas three weeks ago, just making the Games wasn't good enough. But when you get here and it's out of your control, it changes your appreciation of it as well. "When I'm here, you take more of it in and you're like, 'wow, this is the highest level, this is the one time every four years that we get the media attention and the one time the nation is watching.' "I'm trying to be positive and happy rather than dig myself in a hole and be grumpy!"