British girls sweep gold

Britain is today celebrating its first gold medal at the Winter Olympics in 18 years.

The women's curling team became Olympic champions in Salt Lake City late last night with a dramatic final-stone victory over Switzerland. Scottish housewives Fiona MacDonald, Janice Rankin, Debbie Knox and skip Rhona Martin won the final 4-3 - Britain's first Winter Olympics gold since ice skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won at Sarajevo in 1984, and only the seventh in British sporting history.

The Swiss drew 3-3 with the British team just before the final rounds of the game but after three hours came the nail-biting finish as Martin's last stone knocked the Swiss marker from the button.

The four's exploits on the ice rink have elevated this little-known sport into the national consciousness. Martin said: "I was just panicking on the last stone. I hadn't played one like that for a wee while. It was just a case of having faith that I could do it."

As Great Britain's chef de mission, Simon Clegg, declared: "Rhona Martin has written herself into British sporting history today."

Martin, who thought her team had missed its chance when they lost to Germany four days ago, had not played a single shot wrong throughout the match.

Also on the victory podium with Martin, Rankin, MacDonald and Knox was alternate Maggie Morton, who played two ends of the preliminary round match against the US.

Afterwards, as she clutched her gold medal, Martin insisted she could cope with the fame that will now be heaped upon her and her teammates. "Oh, I'm sure I'll manage," she smiled as tabloid newspapers queued up to buy up her life story. She insisted that her priorities lie not with sport, but with her family. "I'll still be a wife and mother of two kids from a small village. That's not going to change."