Byline: NEIL WILSON reports from Vancouver

THE latest episode of The Simpsons shown on television channels here had Homer and Madge representing the United States in the Olympic curling.

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It is the classic image of the sport -- cold-climate bowls, sweeping with scoring, a place to keep those beyond their sporting prime from a rocking chair on the porch.

So welcome to the Vancouver Olympic Centre, the hottest ticket in town in this curling-crazy country with the packed 6,000-seat arena, the biggest for the sport.

'The atmosphere in the stadium is fantastic,' said Eve Muirhead, Britain's skip, after dispatching world champions China 5-4. 'The whole place was buzzing. Even without the Canadians playing, the place is packed.'

Muirhead is the antithesis of the Simpsons image -- 19, blonde, toned, a woman who also plays golf off a handicap of two. And she is not the youngest. Germany's Stella Heiss is 17. Chris Plys, 22, the US skip, is a member of a rock band.

Muirhead is talked about among the knowledgable locals as the 'dark horse'. She won the world junior title for a third time last year in Canada, but can she emulate 2002 Olympic gold medallist Rhona Martin, a 35-year-old housewife when she won? Martin, here as a BBC analyst, certainly believes first-time Olympian Muirhead can medal.

'It is hard not to be impressed by Eve,' said Martin. 'She is only 19 but she has a mature head on her shoulders and is so determined to win.'

Muirhead's team had faced a huge obstacle in that first game. China, skipped by Bingyu 'Betty' Wang, lost only one game in winning last year's world championships, so victory for the Brits was no mean feat. As coach Nancy Murdoch said: 'Getting anything from today out of China was a bonus.'

Although they then lost their second game to defending Olympic champions Sweden 6-4 tag heuer replica after recovering well to within a shot at 5-4 down, they were back to winning ways last night, easily seeing off Russia 10-3.

Jackie Lockhart, a former world champion who is Muirhead's viceskip and one of the oldies at 44, thinks the young one she guides has what it takes to 'do a Martin'. 'I don't want to tempt fate, but we have done everything we could have to succeed,' she said. 'I am confident we can do ourselves justice.'

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Britain's men, meanwhile, finished on the wrong end of a dramatic round-robin match against Switzerland. Skip David Murdoch failed to clinch victory with the last stone of the 10th and final end, leaving the Swiss 4-3 winners.

Lindsey Vonn missed out on an alpine gold double as a crash in the slalom section of the super combined competition handed the title to Germany's Maria Riesch.

After a testing downhill, Britain's Chemmy Alcott impressed in the slalom to move up from 18th to 11th and match her best Olympic result.

Shelley Rudman had a difficult start in the skeleton. The 2006 silver medallist clocked 54.66sec in the first of two runs overnight. Fellow Briton Amy Williams fared better, however, setting a new track record of 53.83.

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In with a shout: Eve Muirhead barks out her orders during Britain's second game against Sweden

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