Curling is a sport often dubbed as a game of inches.
There may be no one who can identify more with the phrase than 麻豆精选鈥檚 Jock Tyre.
The coach of Germany鈥檚 national women鈥檚 team, Tyre watched the Daniela Jentsch foursome miss out on a potential Olympic berth earlier this month by the narrowest of margins.
At the European region Olympic qualification event in Pilsen, Czech Republic, Germany lost a pair of extra-end games, including one on a measurement against Italy, to finish the round robin with a 2-4 record.
A 4-2 record would have been enough to get Germany into the three-team playoff, with two berths to South Korea on the line.
As it turned out, China and Denmark will be off to Pyeongchang, South Korea in February 2018.
鈥淲hen you have an Olympic dream and get so close without seeing it happen, it鈥檚 devastating,鈥� said Tyre, the manager of the 麻豆精选 Curling Club. 鈥淲e were the second best team going in there, but it didn鈥檛 turn out that way.
鈥淚鈥檝e always had a dream of going to the Olympics,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e spent six months preparing for that moment, so it鈥檚 disappointing.鈥�
Missed opportunities aside, there鈥檚 nothing Tyre would accept in a trade for his coaching experience with Germany鈥檚 national team.
Among the many highlights was travelling to St. Gallen, Switzerland for the European Curling Championships in November where the Germans were among the 20 women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 competing teams.
鈥淏eing with all those people and teams from different countries with different languages, it was a great experience,鈥� said Tyre. 鈥淚 know so many people from past events, it鈥檚 nice to work together with them. It was cool just to see the European Championships.鈥�
The German women have qualified for the World Women鈥檚 Curling Championship this coming March in North Bay, ON.
Pending approval from Germany鈥檚 governing body for curling, Tyre will once again serve as the coach for Team Jentsch.
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