Winter Olympics: More Misery for Miller After Gate Blunder

Bode Miller was touted as the possible man of these Olympics, but at his current rate of failure the American skier is likely to leave them as their biggest let-down. After finishing only fifth in the downhill on Sunday, having spent the night before in a bar drinking beer, he again threw away a potential gold medal when he was disqualified in the combined last night.

Miller led after the opening downhill section but in the first leg of the slalom he was disqualified after television replays showed he straddled the 42nd gate. It was Miller’s eighth slalom of the season and the sixth in which he had either been disqualified or skied off course. But he claimed not to be bothered. "If it’s clear, it’s clear," he said. "I don’t plan to get disappointed."

There was still an American winner as Ted Ligety took a surprise gold after another of the favorites, Austria’s Benjamin Raich, failed to take advantage of Miller’s problems. Britain’s Noel Baxter, brother of Alain, did cash in on the confusion to finish 14th.

Britain’s women curlers continued their successful start to the defense of their title when they produced a remarkable escape to beat Switzerland 5-4 in a repeat of the Olympic final in Salt Lake City four years ago. For the second consecutive match, Rhona Martin pounced on a mistake by the opposing skip to pull off an unlikely win. "We just kept plugging away and trying to be patient," said Martin. "We stepped up a gear today and we are getting to know ourselves better as a team now. But we still have a long way to go and a lot of sharpening up to do.

"We are not being complacent because there are a lot of good teams out there but it is definitely where we want to be after four draws." An even bigger test will be faced today when they take on Sweden, the world champions.