Curling

The curling finals at Torino 2006 were among the most intense and memorable of any medals decided at those Games. Spectators are vocal and passionate, while competitors know a single stone can turn an entire match. The skill is unbelievable! With the Canadians defending men’s champions and the women third behind Sweden in 2006 the local support will be enormous.

Born in Scotland in the middle of the 1500s, curling was played on frozen ponds using stones found at the bottom of channels and lakes. The first curling competition at the Winter Olympic Games was held at Chamonix in 1924. After the Lake Placid Games in 1932, curling was dropped as an Olympic sport for the next 50 years, then re-admitted as a demonstration sport at Calgary in 1988. It returned as an official Olympic sport in Nagano in 1998.

Australia and curling

Unfortunately Australia failed to qualify a curling team for Vancouver 2010. The men’s team progressed well through world qualifications and it looked like history would be created, with our first curling Olympians, however they fell just short.

Australia came closer than ever before so Sochi 2014 could be the time

Competition Format / Events

Curling is a competition between two teams with four players each, consisting of the lead, the second, the third and the skip (team captain). The game is played on ice, and the two teams take turns pushing a 19.1kg stone towards a series of concentric circles. The object is to place the stone as close as possible to the centre. The team with the highest total score wins.

One game consists of ten "ends". A team delivers eight stones - two stones per person, in a set order until all sixteen stones have been delivered. Players sweep the path of the stone as it slides over the ice. The object of sweeping is to create a thin film of moisture between the stone and the ice to act as a lubricant. This makes the stone travel faster and makes it less likely to deviate from a straight line or curl.

Both the men’s and women’s tournaments in the Olympic curling competition consist of 10 teams each competing in a round robin tournament. During the preliminary series, each team plays against all other teams. Based on the results of the round robin, the four best teams advance to the semifinals with the 1st place team playing 4th place and 2nd vs 3rd. The winners of each semifinal play in the gold medal game and the losers play in the bronze medal game.

Competing Nations

Canada

Great Britain

Norway

Sweden

United States

Japan

Germany

Switzerland

Russian Federation