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CURLINGA Stone's Throw - washingtonpost.com graphic
The four
Scottish women in Great Britain’s rink, skipped by Rhona Martin, paid
tribute to the birthplace of their sport with their surprise 4-3
gold-medal victory over Luiza Ebnoether’s Swiss rink. Kelley Law’s
Canadian rink, the pre-Games favorite, salvaged the bronze medal with
a 9-4 victory over Kari Erickson’s United States rink, whose members
saluted their presence in the medal round with the consolation that it
would do wonders for American curling. On the men’s side, favored
Canada took another lump as Paal Trulsen’s Norwegian rink swept to the
gold medal 6-5 when Canadian skip Kevin Martin’s heavy rock skidded
past the button on the final throw of the game. Andreas Schwaller’s
Swiss rink won bronze by defeating world champion Sweden 7-3.
MEN (FEB 22)
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NORWAY |
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CANADA |
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SWITZERLAND |
WOMEN (FEB 21)
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GREAT BRITAIN |
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SWITZERLAND |
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CANADA |
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MEDAL TALLY |
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Total |
Great Britain |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Norway |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Canada |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
Switzerland |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
Total |
2 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
VENUE & EVENTS
The Ice Sheet at
Ogden
4390 Harrison Boulevard, Ogden,
Utah (Weber County)
59 km/36.6 miles from the Olympic Village
The Ice Sheet at Ogden was built in 1994. It accommodates four sheets of ice (each measuring 4.75 meters x 44.50 meters) and has seating for 2,000 spectators.
Five hundred years ago, farmers in Scotland passed time during long, gray winters by sliding heavy stones across frozen ponds. Known today as curling, this sport first appeared as a medal event at the 1998 Nagano Games. Similar to shuffleboard on ice, curling requires competitors to use a handle to push a 44-lb granite stone down a stretch of ice towards the target (house) while trying to knock out opponents' stones. For accuracy, players often twist the handle as the stone is released, rotating the stone as it glides down the ice sheet. This spin, or "curl", gives the sport its name. While curling lacks the physical contact and high-speed of other Olympic Winter Games events, the sport draws fans for its tradition, etiquette and strategy.
Curling, a strategy game sometimes called "chess on ice," gets its name from the "curl," or spin, a player puts on the stone by twisting it upon its release. Each team has four players: lead, second, third and the team captain, called the skip. Each player, alternating with the opposing team, delivers a stone from the delivery zone toward the house, or scoring area, as instructed by the skip. The player must release the stone before reaching the "hog line." Two sweepers brush the ice in front of the moving stone, trying to maneuver the stone as close as possible to where the skip indicates. Vigorous sweeping polishes the ice, enabling the stone to travel as much as 15 feet farther. The team that wins an "end," or group of 16 stones, plays first in the next end. Often the most important stone is the last, so teams often intentionally lose an end to reverse the order of play. Each game lasts about 2½ hours.
After each end, the team with the stone closest to the tee, the center of the house, wins. Points are added for each stone between the tee and the opponent's nearest stone. The maximum score in an end is eight points, but an eight-point end is rarer than a hole-in-one in golf. The team with the highest total score after 10 ends wins.
