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The Winter Olympics was thrown into chaos less than 10 minutes after the Games got underway due to a powercut. The opening ceremony in Cortina might take place on Friday, but the curling is already underway.

Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, South Korea, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia and Switzerland were all in action in the first mixed doubles round robin. However, play was soon stopped due to a powercut in the stadium.

"OK, we have just had a power cut," the commentator on the BBC's coverage said. After a few seconds he then continued: "We have had a power cut here in the stadium. We talked about not a great start from the British curlers, but also not a great start for the organisers.

"What I can tell you is that I think play has been paused. You are probably seeing it, and I hope you are seeing it. Play has been paused because the scoring screens have gone off.

"The lights on the ice, most of them seem on, but everything else has pretty much gone, certainly for us in the broadcasting area, although there is a light back flick on our broadcast monitors.

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"Hang fire, everybody. Hopefully someone ran off to go and put some money in the meter or something. And with a bit of luck we will get going again."

Play eventually resumed after a short stoppage, with Great Britain taking a 4-3 lead over Norway at the break. Switzerland were also beating Estonia, Sweden were leading against South Korea and Canada were hammering the Czech Republic.

Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds are representing Team GB in the mixed doubles curling and the two have a longstanding relationship. "Our friendship really helps out too," Dodds said. "We've got 100% trust and support from one another and that creates a really safe environment for us."

While Mouat admitted: "That first game that we played at the mixed doubles was the most nervous either of us have ever been in a game.

"And then when we got to the semi, that feeling came back. But this time, we have experience and we're going to rely heavily on that."

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