Italian pair Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner sealed their country’s first ever curling medal at a Winter Olympics with gold in the mixed team doubles, defeating Norway 8-5 on Tuesday.
The pair have gone through the entire competition in Beijing unbeaten having won all nine preliminary games, a semifinal against Sweden and now the final against Norway.
After their win, Mosaner said: "This is an important moment, we managed to win a gold medal and this is an incredible thing.
"But above all the 11 wins and the zero defeats, this is the biggest and most beautiful thing."
Perhaps most important to Constantini, though, was how their run led to a wider awareness of curling in Italy.
"This is the beauty of it," Constantini said. "We managed to get people more curious (about our sport). Lots of Italians and fans are following us and are proud of us. We could feel all their support."
The historic run to the gold also saw Constantini and Mosaner knock out 2018 champion Canada in the round robin stage.
Norwegians Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, bronze medalists in PyeongChang four years ago, were unable to see off the resolute Italians and took silver.
Sweden’s Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson claimed bronze earlier on Tuesday with a 9-3 victory over Great Britain.