Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds openly admitted their Winter Olympic campaign was fuelled by the desire of redemption after a heart-breaking fourth-place finish in Beijing four years ago.
They attacked the round robin stage with gusto and carved their way through the mixed doubles draw, winning eight of nine matches.
However, history cruelly repeated itself in the end in Cortina as the Edinburgh pair fell to a 5-3 defeat to Italy in the bronze medal match, and finished fourth again.
It was a gut-wrenching end to a brilliant campaign and came down to the barest of margins at the end.
“We’re gutted,” an emotional Mouat said. “I can't really believe that we're coming away with nothing again after such a good week.
“We played a lot better week than we did in Beijing, so to again not come away with something is fairly disappointing.
“You know not many people in the world can say that they get to play two Olympics with one of their best friends and it's just incredible that we've both worked so hard to get to this point.
“As I say I'm just unfortunate, I can't really believe that we're coming away with nothing again after such a good week.”
It was a nervy affair against the host nation, which kept those there – including Chef de Mission Eve Muirhead and British Olympic Association President HRH Princess Anne – on the edge of their seats.
In a game of fine margins, Mouat and Dodds were often an inch or two away from their targets.
They had a shot in the first end to take three points but Dodds’ last stone was fractionally off-target and the Italians stole it by one.
The childhood friends quickly levelled but Italy nudged 3-1 ahead, including another point against the hammer.
The two teams traded blows for the final four ends, but only won one point at each end, leaving Italy with the medal.
“So close, but so far," Dodds said. "It hurts the same as four years ago.
“That is the nature of mixed doubles. The standard is getting higher and higher and I think it's just going to continue to do that.
“We'll chat about things tonight, probably be upset and then regroup. We've got tomorrow, we've got practice and draw a line on it tonight and then get back into the men's and women's games before tomorrow.”