The curling match between Sweden and South Korea concluded in a truly bizarre fashion. Sweden held a commanding 10-3 lead, making their victory a certainty. The South Koreans congratulated the Scandinavians, but then a moment of confusion arose.
Referee's Blunder
"What happened? Did they forfeit?" one of the Swedish players audibly asked the officials. Several key players then looked around in bewilderment. The South Koreans still had two 'ends' left to play. And while they couldn't win, they were still entitled to complete them. However, it turned out the referee had prematurely ended the match after just the sixth end.
Decision Irreversible
Because the South Koreans had subsequently signed the match form, the decision could no longer be reversed. As a result, the game ended earlier than intended. The Swedes even offered to resume the match, but the Korean signature made it impossible. And it didn't seem like the Koreans were particularly keen to continue playing anyway. Sweden would have won regardless, but the match's conclusion was certainly remarkable.
Power Outage Causes False Start
This wasn't the only peculiar incident during the curling events. Earlier on Wednesday evening, something else remarkable occurred. Teams were in the midst of their matches but unexpectedly had to stop after just a few minutes.
The reason? A sudden power outage. This plunged the curling arena into darkness and caused the scoreboard to fail. The latter was quickly fixed, but it took a while for all the lights to fully function again. After about ten minutes, the matches could finally resume.
Opening Ceremony Only on Friday
The Olympic Games will officially kick off with the opening ceremony on Friday evening. Many consider this the 'real' start of the Games, but curling matches had already begun on Wednesday evening. For instance, several ice hockey games are scheduled for Thursday. This is a deliberate choice.
The entire schedule would be impossible to complete if all events only started after the opening ceremony. Therefore, the decision was made to hold some preliminary matches in certain sports.