South Korea was eliminated from the women's curling competition at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing after losing to Sweden 8-4 in the last round-robin match on Thursday.

Despite winning a surprising silver medal in 2018, South Korea finished ninth in the 10-team round-robin session, with only the top four teams progressing to the semifinals.

South Korea, led by skip Kim Eun-Jung, finished with a 4-5 record, the same as the United States and China, but was rated lower than both teams since it had lost to both teams earlier in the competition.

South Korea suffered a 12-7 defeat against Canada in the opening round of the competition.

Since then, Team Kim has experienced a roller-coaster ride, winning the following two games then losing the next two before defeating rival Japan.

South Korea's hopes of making it to the last four were given a major setback when they lost to Switzerland in the morning on Wednesday. However, Team Kim came back with a stunning 8-7 victory against Denmark in the evening on Wednesday.

It set the tone for Thursday's game against Sweden, which might determine the outcome of the tournament. South Korea needed to win and get assistance from others in order to advance to the semifinals.

South Korea's game was the final one to be completed, and Team Kim did actually receive a great deal of assistance. Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Canada had all won their individual games, and it came down to either beating Sweden or going home empty-handed for South Korea in the last game.

In the second end, South Korea took two points from the United States after a scoreless first end. A superb draw with Kim's final rock provided her team with two stones near the button, which corresponds to a central location in the house.

It was Anna Hasselborg, her rival, who attempted to play a draw through South Korean security and into the button. She made a mistake with her final stroke, which slid out further away from the center than any South Korean stone, giving Team Kim the advantage at 2-0.

In the third end, Hasselborg played a stronger draw than the previous two, cutting the score to 2-1. During the fourth end, South Korea reclaimed a two-point advantage, and Sweden replied by scoring a point in the following end.

The sides swapped points in the sixth and seventh ends, with South Korea taking a 4-3 lead at the conclusion of the sixth. However, in the eighth end, which saw missed strokes from both ends, Sweden emerged with two points, giving them a 5-4 lead with two ends remaining.

Sweden gained ground as the tide turned in its favor. With four Swedish stones in the house and very little room to move, Kim held the final stone of the ninth end but was unable to prevent Sweden from grabbing a point and taking a 6-4 lead in the series.

Kim took the very last stroke of the match, knowing that she had a little chance of earning two points and forcing an additional round of play. Sweden, on the other hand, was able to secure the final two points, sealing the victory and sending South Korea home.

"We were in command for the first five ends, but there were a couple of shots that I wasn't thrilled with," Kim remarked afterward, tears streaming down her face. "The team would not be in this predicament if I had concentrated just on my shots rather than on the outcome of the game. I should have been able to keep the game within striking distance. I'll make an effort to improve in that area."

As unhappy as he was to have missed out on the semifinals, head coach Lim Myung-sup expressed his pride in his curlers despite their elimination.

"We've worked really hard for this, and we've earned our way into the Olympics," Lim expressed his gratitude. "We'll have to live with this result and attempt to learn from it in order to become better in the future."