USA takes home the bronze! Yippee! It was really an exciting end to the match. I think it’s the first time this whole Olympics we’ve actually cheered. Of course, some of that may be because it was live, so I didn’t know how it was going to end.
Canada won the gold, and Finland won the bronze in this afternoon’s match.
It seems like screaming at the top of your lungs is just as important as releasing the stone correctly.
Women’s curling was expected to perhaps medal. Nope. Women’s hockey was a cinch to medal. Nope. Men’s curling was expected to show up to play and go home before the medal round. Nope.
Welcome to the Olympics where, much like Alice’s Wonderland, things are not always as they are expected to be. The U.S. men’s curling team is in the medal round after beating Great Britain today. They are tied for first right now with Great Britain and Finland, who all have a 6-2 record. Their losses came to Finland and to Italy.
Tomorrow they play their last match before the semi-finals. They will be playing Canada, who have a record of 4-3. Finland and Great Britain will play each other later today.
The U.S. men’s Olympic curling team is doing quite well. They’re currently tied for third with Finland and Switzerland with a record of three wins and two losses. They have three more matches before the medal round. That would be so cool if they make it into the medal round. Way to go!
By now, you probably all realize that I’m a sucker for a human interest story, so this one was right up my alley. Jamie Johnson is getting married next summer. So, while she’s at the Olympics, her sister (also on the U.S. Olympic curling team) and her teammates threw her a surprise bridal shower. They even flew in her fiancee early. How sweet!
Too bad they couldn’t give her a gold medal for a wedding present, but since they’re currently in last, that’s fairly unlikely. It is the Olympics, though, so I suppose it’s not impossible. There are still four games remaining, they could possibly move up to fourth position and earn a spot in the medal tournament.
I haven’t written much about the men’s curling team because, other than having the oldest Olympian ever on their team, I just hadn’t read that much about them, and I didn’t think they were expected to do that well. Sorry, team Fenson.
Well, the Americans put themselves on the radar today by beating defending Olympic champions Norway. Way to go!
My kids crack me up. Two of my boys are in there arguing about who is closer in the women’s Olympic curling. One of them has told me that he would be a curler if he were going to compete in an Olympic sport. I don’t know how he would manage to practice here in Houston, but I guess if Chad Hedrick can become a speedskater, my son could become a curler. I wonder what the off ice equivalent of curling is. Shuffleboard?
Scott Baird is a curler from Minnesota, and before the Turin Olympics even start, he has set a record. At 54 and 282 days, Baird will be the oldest person to every compete in a Winter Olympics. The previous record was held by men’s skeleton slider James Coates, who placed seventh in 1948 at 53 years, 328 days old.
No wonder the only time I’ve ever seen curling was on The Amazing Race. In its Olympic debut, the only coverage it received was from David Letterman’s mother.
Fast forward eight years to 2006 and the Olympics in Turin. NBC will broadcast 26 matches, 15 of them live.
For more on Olympic coverage of curling, take a look at this article.
Curling does not sound like it ought to be a sport. But it’s actually quite interesting to watch. I saw curling for the first time, recently, on The Amazing Race, actually.
Curling is similar to bocce balls, in that it is a precision game. Of course, it’s played on ice, so that’s a major difference.
Curling has only been a part of the Olympics since 1998 (that’s probably why I’d never heard of it until recently).
The basic jist of the sport is that you push a 44 lb. puck (called a rock or a stone) down narrow lane and try to land in one of the concentric rings. It’s more complicated than that, though, as it’s actually played in teams. There is sweeping involved. And then there’s the “hammer”, or final stone.
Here’s my best attempt at a simple summary.
There are 8 or 10 ends (like innings). Each team has four players. Curling teams are identified by the last name of the team captain (the “Skip”). The sheet of ice (playing surface) is 15’71/2” wide and 146 feet long, set up to accommodate play in both directions. In an end each team member shoots two rocks, alternating with the team members of the competing team. So, that makes a total of 8 rocks per team per end.
Play begin with the “Lead” player. The “Second” shoots next followed by the “Vice Skip”. The Skip shoots the last rocks and directs the play of the others. The skip decides on shot selection and signals the players.
They are shooting at a 12-foot circle (the house), which is the scoring area. For each stone closer to the center of the circles than any of the opponent’s stones, one point is scored. The team that scores shoots first in the next end, giving the opponent the “hammer”, or last shot of that end.
As the stone proceeds down the ice, it curls (curves). While one player shoots, two sweep to control the curl and the speed. Why do they sweep? Sweeping melts the ice slightly, causing the stone to curl less and slide farther.
Noteable Americans are sisters Cassie and Jamie Johnson. The rest of Team Johnson consists of Jessica Schultz, Maureen Brunt and Courtney George. They are coached by Neil Doese.
If you’re interested in more specifics of how the sport is played and what different terms mean, I recommend curlingbasics.com. You can also watch some video at the site of the Kansas City Curling Club.
Rhona Martin was a hero when she lead her team to gold in curling at the Salt Lake City Olympics. But in the last year, after losing her home and her marriage, she seriously considered leaving the sport.
Her children encouraged her to reconsider. And so, one game away from being completely eliminated from any hope of competing the Olympics, Martin decided to fight for a place onthe team. Next month, she will compete in the Turin Olympics.
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