Mixed Doubles: GBR 9-8 AUS - MANASANTIVONGS (AUS)

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BEIJING - Comments from Australian coach Pete MANASANTIVONGS (AUS) after Great Britain (GBR) beat Australia9-8 in the mixed doubles round robin at the National Aquatics Centre on Friday.

On the match, the team's fifth loss in the tournament:

“We were down 6-1 after four, and we said: ‘Look, if we win the second half, we have a good shot at winning after eight or even taking it to an extra end’. So we just said: 'Let's execute our power play, one shot at a time, communicate on each shot'. And they hung in there, right?

“We've been resilient. We've had to build our resilience over the course of the competition. I’m very proud of them. We're going to get a lucky break, right? I trust it.

“We're just going to prepare for tomorrow's two games. We're going to keep having fun, right? We're playing at the Olympics, and this is a dream.”

On how he shared the coaching role with the Olympic gold medallist John MORRIS (CAN) in 2021:

“John and I have complementary coaching skills that we use to support Dean HEWITT and Tahli GILL (AUS). So I'm never going to be able to compete with a double medallist, but I don't have to because he's very much providing insights around strategy and technique, having been at the Olympics two times before.

“My background is in communication and data analytics, so I do quite a bit of that. John and I, we complement each other perfectly. We would have loved to have had him with us for this event, but his country's calling.

“I imagined in the future we will co-coach Dean and Tahli together. The four of us get along so well.”

If MORRIS playing at the Olympics Winter Games left a gap in the coach setup:

“I'm trying to do two jobs solo on the coach's bench. But we have a range of different resources that we are tapping into when we're away from the field of play.

“We're going to look forward to having John join us at various points over the next Olympic cycle, at world championships and other events.”

On where he is from:

“I grew up in the hotbed of curling in the United States, which is Los Angeles (laughs). I moved to Melbourne about 15 years ago.”

On how he got involved with Team Australia:

“I was asked to coach Dean and his mom at the beginning of this Olympic cycle in 2018. They were national champions three years in a row, then Lin retired.

“Dean and Tahli have been playing together, and they've been national champions since 2019. So I've been with Dean during the whole Olympic cycle, and with Tahli for three of the four years.”