Aussie Olympic first comes out of nowhere: ‘It’s still sinking in’

For the first time in history, an Australian curling team has qualified for the Winter Olympics.

Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill came from behind to defeat Korea 6-5 in the final of the mixed doubles Olympic qualification event and, in doing so, claimed the last remaining quota spots for the 2022 Beijing Games.

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With the scores tied at 5-all in the final “end” – the curling equivalent of a round – 22-year-old Brisbanite Gill gave Australia a one-point lead with her last throw, entering the history books in the process.

“It’s still sinking in a little bit,” said Gill, who has come to curling from a figure skating background.

“As basic as it sounds, I thought I’ve just got to throw the right split and the right line. I took a really deep breath and that was all I focused on.

“I didn’t think about it being a shot to go to the Olympics or anything like that. I knew I had to throw the right line and weight.”

Hewitt, 27, from Melbourne, said it was “amazing” to have qualified.

“Making that three in the power play, that turned things around a lot for us” said Hewitt, whose Canadian mother first encouraged him to take up curling.

“It’s amazing. I called Tahli about 3½ years ago and said, ‘Look, do you want to make a run at these Olympics?’ We’ve been working so hard over the past few months and the past couple of years, and it’s all paid off.

“We’ve had so much support from home, we can’t thank them enough.”

The US claimed the other mixed doubles spot that had been up for grabs at the qualification event, held in the sleepy Dutch city of Leeuwarden from December 5-9.

Beijing will be just the second Games to feature mixed doubles curling.

Canada’s Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris won gold at the inaugural event in 2018, with teams from Switzerland and Norway finishing second and third respectively.

Teams from all three 2018 medal-winning countries have qualified for Beijing, as have pairs hailing from China, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy and the Czech Republic.

Aussie curlers Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt qualify for Winter Olympics

Gill and Hewitt’s qualification comes after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced this week that Australia would join the US in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

While athletes will still be permitted to compete, Australia will send no government representatives to China for the Games, citing “human rights abuses” in the Xinjiang province.

“(We are) very happy to talk to the Chinese government about these issues and there’s been no obstacle to that occurring on our side, but the Chinese government has consistently not accepted those opportunities for us to meet about these issues,” Morrison said on Wednesday.

“So it is not surprising, therefore, that Australian government officials would not be going to China for those Games. Australian athletes will, though.

“Australia’s a great sporting nation and I very much separate the issues of sport and these other political issues. They’re issues between two governments.”