Olympic Curling

Curling is an old sport that was at the first Olympics in 1924. It is now still played at the Olympics in modern day. It has a team for men and women . The object of the game is to get the stones as close to the center of the rings as possible. It works with one person pushing a stone along the ice, and two people sweeping in front of it to change its direction. In the end the winner is the team with the most stones in the rings.

There is a lot of training involved. One to two times a week there is a whole team practice and every other weekend there is a competition. Also, the athletes practice individually and occasionally with coaches five to six times a week. They do this at their homes where they have personal rinks. I have watched and followed the U.S, German and Canadian Curling teams.

A common term is Blank End which means an end where there were no points scored. Another term is Freeze which is a form of a draw that stops and rests while touching another stone. Also, Curl is the curve that is made when the rock travels down the ice. Another terms is Broom, which is the device used to sweep the area in front of the stone. Also, Peel which is when you send a shot to remove a guard or slide out of play. Wide is when a stone is delivered outside the intended line. Whoa is the command that the sweepers are given to stop sweeping. The stone is the granite object that the players deliver.

The sport of curling is more that five hundred years old. The earliest written record of curling was found at Scotland's Paisley Abbey. It dates back to 1541. The first Olympic Curling was played by men. Canada won gold and Norway won silver for men's curling this year. In women's Curling Canada has the gold and Sweden has the silver. In third place for men's was Sweden and in third place for women's was China. For both men and women's Curling the United States came in last place. I think that Curling is a good and safe sport for everyone. I hope that it is continued throughout the years in the Olympic Winter Games.