Eight years after his last shot in Salt Lake City slid far enough for silver and Norway celebrated that last half an inch for all the gold it was worth and more, the tables turned on Sunday and it was Martin at the top of his game -- and the podium.
Fittingly, the Edmonton skip delivered the last rock this time too, a hit-and-stick in the 10th that ran Norway's Thomas Ulsrud out of rocks and the ghost of Salt Lake City out of the picture.
"When that rock was going to make contact, that's about as good a feeling as you get," said Martin.
"All the hard work, it all comes to fruition. We wanted to get one step higher on the podium because the other stuff was done. It's surreal. I said it to the guys as we were walking out to the podium, it's like walking through a dream. It's amazing. I guess as the hours pass it will become more real but it's hard to believe."
That the resume is full. That there is Olympic gold to accompany Salt Lake silver as well as the world and Brier titles. And the look on his face, heck, all their smiling mugs, was complete and total satisfaction at a job perfectly done. They went 11-0, an Olympic record. They handled the weight of expectation as easy as they did their draw weight.
They revelled in the wacky atmosphere, respected their opponents and kept on driving to the podium, a destination that was four years in the making for lead Ben Hebert, second Marc Kennedy and third John Morris, double that for Martin.
And Paal Trulsen, the man whose 2002 win gave Martin a ghost and a goal to chase for those eight years, couldn't be happier for his longtime friend and foe. Now the Norwegian coach, Trulsen hugged Martin in the aftermath of the Edmonton team's 6-3 victory at Vancouver Olympic Centre.
"He deserves a rest. He deserves this gold. I think he is really relieved now," said Trulsen. "To be a curling player in Canada is completely different than a curling player in Norway. He's a big star here and he really deserves his spot in the history of curling, I think. He has been up there for 15, 20 years, now he's got his gold and I'm happy for him."
It wasn't all about Martin, no more than the game could have been won without the rest of the team. Morris was unconscious, throwing a trio of big-weight doubles and a ridiculous triple in the fourth end. Norway wore the clown pants but Morris made the circus shots look routine.
"John was on fire," said Martin, who followed that act with clutch shotmaking of his own in the second half of the match. And the heavy movers at the front, Kennedy and Hebert, were the rock-solid performers we have grown accustomed to seeing, hunched over and brushing like mad fools. The lead was 3-0 at the break and when Martin made a freeze in seven to give him a chance for two, it was already academic.
There was no drama left after the ninth end, Canada coming home up three with the locals singing the national anthem.
"Could you have pictured a better script, especially for Kevin?" marvelled Kennedy. "On his home soil, going unbeaten, against Norway and Sweden in the semi? It's like a fairytale, unbelievable. It's just a lot of joy and a lot of relief. And you get tingles, jitters up the spine. The one thought that goes through my mind is, I don't think it gets better than this. Up three coming home, home crowd, the Olympic Games, and they're singing the anthem -- it just doesn't get any better. I don't know how I'm going to top this. I might have to retire."
Ulsrud joked that he wished Martin would do the same. And if the old bear had only been hanging around to avenge Salt Lake City, he might have made plans to exit stage left with this gold. But he had long ago filed 2002 away into a corner of his mind where it would keep company with the accomplishment of silver and a host of championships. It was not a standalone failure at the heart of his curling career, it was unfinished business on the periphery. It has been dealt with and he can keep going.
"I know how much this means to him and it had nothing to do with 2002 or any Olympics he's been to," said Hebert.
"He just wanted to win this one to fill his resume as probably the best curler of all time and he played like it all week."
Martin went 85 per cent for the tourney, just 78 per cent on the day. Norway's numbers mirrored Canada's throughout but the biggest shots were all made by the home side at the right time. Morris, in particular, played like a man possessed.
"Sometimes Johnny gets that look in his eye where he misses no shots," said Hebert. "Fourth end, when he made that triple, I knew he was fired up. When he gets that look in his eye he's probably the second best player in the world. You get them both on one team it's a pretty good little weapon."
But they were determined to play every angle even before they hit the ice.
They have always taken care of the details, committed themselves to excellence, so Morris delivered an impassioned pregame speech just as he had done before the Olympic trials final against Glenn Howard.
"I just said the word of the day today is relentless. We're going to be relentless out there. Let's play a good aggressive Canadian curling game that we know how to play.
"Let's not think of the gold medal or anything at the end of the road. Let's think of what we've got to do to make the next shot.
"All four of us, we've played enough big games that we felt comfortable and confident in big game situations and today they just showed again they're big game players."
Eight years ago Martin lost the big game to Trulsen. He had the winning stone in his hands and sent it too far down the ice. He doesn't need another crack at it any more.
Source:vancouversun.com/
