CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Italy's Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini saw out a tense 5-3 win over Britain in the mixed doubles curling at the Winter Olympics on Tuesday to add the bronze medal to their gold from four years ago.
The Italians, who said after their 9-8 semi-final loss to the U.S. that they had given their opponents too many chances, were miserly from the start in the bronze medal clash.
The world champions did well to limit Britain's scoring opportunities and steal points at every opportunity to build a 3-2 lead heading into the sixth end.
In that end, Britain set up three stones in scoring position, but under tremendous pressure, Constantini threaded her final shot through a narrow gap and onto the button to clinch a crucial point.
"The loss in the semi-final yesterday was a tough moment, but we relaxed yesterday night and had dinner and a drink with our family. And we came back stronger today on the ice," Mosaner said.
"We did a good job and a great performance to take the bronze. Four years ago, we won the gold medal. This year, it wasn't possible, but we know it's the Olympics, and all the teams are at a high level.
"We had a good week overall, up and down, some rollercoaster. But at the end we were where we wanted to fight for a medal."
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Italy controlled the closing stages, restricting their opponents to one point in the penultimate end before scoring one more with their powerplay to secure victory, sparking massive celebrations from the partisan crowd at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.
Constantini and Mosaner had beaten the British duo three times previously, once at the Beijing Games in 2022 and twice at last year's World Championships including in the final, but they lost 9-6 when the pairs met in the round-robin stage in Cortina.
For Britain's Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds, it marked another crushing fourth-place finish after also missing out on a medal in Beijing, though this disappointment might sting even more in light of their impressive round-robin performance.
"It was a tight game," Dodds said.
"We had chances and we probably just didn't capitalise on them. It was a lot stronger performance than last night. That was the one thing we wanted to do.
"And the Italians played really well. If we had a half shot, they really capitalised on that. Congratulations on them getting the bronze medal."
Mouat and Dodds were among the leading hopes for Britain, who are yet to pick up a medalat the Games.
Curling provided Britain's only two medals four years ago in Beijing - a gold won by Eve Muirhead's team, which featured Dodds, and a silver for the Mouat-led men's team.
The men's curling competition begins on Wednesday and the women's on Thursday.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair, Editing by Ed Osmond and Alison Williams)
