CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — To quote Al Pacino about a very different game, the thumbs we need are all around us.
And when Tabitha Peterson needed to find the inches that would take the United States to the semifinals of an Olympic women’s curling tournament for the first time since 2002, she trusted her teammates and her legs and delivered a rock that will be remembered forever.
“One inch, two inches — it was definitely us,” said Tara Peterson, Tabitha’s teammate and younger sister, who helped sweep Tabitha’s stone to its final resting point, just a tiny bit closer to the middle than two Swiss stones on the other side of the target’s inner green circle.
For a moment it looked like we might need a measurement, but Switzerland could see that Peterson had found his thumb.
HOW CAN YOU NOT ENTERTAIN YOURSELF?! USA CURLING TEAM ADVANCES TO SEMI-FINALS! 🤯 #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/jAPqZWaXtp
– NBC Sports (@NBCSports) February 19, 2026
The stakes couldn’t have been higher. The American team, ranked 17th in the world heading into these Games, entered its final match of the preliminary phase knowing that a victory against second-place Switzerland, which had already booked its place in the final four, would allow it to advance.
After a cautious, scoreless first end, the two teams exchanged single-point ends before Peterson won a header to give the United States a 3-1 lead midway through the match.
Across the room, Great Britain was playing Italy. The British needed to win to have any chance of progressing, but they also needed the United States to make a mistake.
As the endings progressed, this seemed less and less likely. And then it happened again.
The day before, the United States had seen their winning position against Great Britain evaporate with the last stone from British skipper Rebecca Morrison. What seemed like a relatively smooth progression to the final four suddenly became a little bumpier.
And now, with the United States leading 6-3 and facing a Swiss team that had failed to score more than one point in any of the previous ends, Swiss vice-skipper Alina Pätz found the inches she needed to score three points with a superb final throw. Britain then defeated Italy and Canada defeated Korea. We knew Sweden, Switzerland and Canada would return on Friday, but who would join them?
What had been a rather raucous atmosphere suddenly became very tense. The Americans had the advantage of the last stone in the extra end, but they were no longer hitting all the shots, and the Swiss stones were soon blocking the path leading to the button.
“We were really close on two of the double peel attempts, so yeah, if we pulled that off, maybe it would be a little easier,” Tabitha Peterson said when asked to explain her thought process as she lined up this latest shot.
“But as the end neared, it looked like I was going to have a whole four (feet) for a draw or tap, so that’s what I was preparing for.”
Sure, there was a four-foot gap to aim for, but only if you forget the 90-plus feet she had to travel before that, and the fact that two Swiss stones were no more than two feet from the button.
When asked what she was thinking before her sister dropped the rock, Tara Peterson said, “Before the shot, no emotions, you can’t feel that yet, you just have to be smart.”
“We knew by giving Tab a draw that she was going to make it, and Taylor (Anderson-Heide) and I were going to sweep it perfectly. Well, we may have almost passed it, but it turned out well.
“So, yeah, you hold in all the emotions and the moment you take that photo, they all pour out.”
She was right about that. From the split-second the stone stopped and the Swiss shook their heads, the boisterous American contingent in the crowd, which included mixed doubles silver medalist Korey Dropkin, broke out the “USA” chant and bounded out the door into the Cortina party.
“It was more about how fast the draw was,” Tabitha Peterson said.
“Throughout the match I had pretty good draw power, and the sweepers were like, ‘Yeah, that’s the same speed you threw, so give me that.’ So, I just trusted my legs and trusted that my sweepers would make it.
They did it. Barely. But an inch was enough.
When asked what the plan was now, Tara Peterson said, “Nutrition, sleep, kiss my baby, and then we start again tomorrow.”
By “that,” she meant playing Switzerland again Friday afternoon, with a chance to play for a gold medal on Sunday on the line. Canada, the top-ranked team this season, will face Sweden.
