How it unfolded
Great Britain finished the round robin 5-4, tied with Sweden and Germany, and only reached the semi-final via a tiebreak. Their final opponent was Luzia Ebnöther's Switzerland, one of the tournament favourites, with Mirjam Ott, Tanya Frei and Laurence Bidaud alongside her. The match was low-scoring throughout, tied 3-3 heading into the last stone of the tenth end. With the hammer, Rhona Martin needed a shot that would remove a Swiss stone sitting on the button while leaving her own stone behind, and her draw, travelling roughly 28 metres, did exactly that. The 4-3 win, completed with Debbie Knox, Fiona MacDonald and Janice Rankin, gave Great Britain its first Winter Olympic gold since 1984. Even airing past midnight UK time, the BBC broadcast drew nearly six million viewers, and that final stone was immediately dubbed the "Stone of Destiny."
Why it still matters
This single match lifted curling in Britain from a marginal pursuit to mainstream winter content. Britain went on to build a standing development system centred in Scotland, which produced Eve Muirhead's 2013 world title, Great Britain's 2022 Beijing gold, and Bruce Mouat's consecutive Olympic silvers. The Ogden ice sheet where the match was played hosted the World Men's Curling Championship again 24 years later, in 2026.