Canadian Olympic Curling History

Hockey may be Canada's game, but curling is Canada's life.

The game of curling was invented in Scotland. The game of curling was already in existence in Scotland in the early sixteenth century as evidenced by a curling stone inscribed with the date 1511, uncovered along with another bearing the date 1551, when an old pond was drained at Dunblane, Scotland.

Scottish immigrants introduced curling to Canada where it thrived and attained a level of excellence that remains unsurpassed. Canada currently has an estimated 1,000,000 curlers and is generally considered the dominating force both in innovations to the sport and in competitive curling success. I have in the spotlight a Canadian women curler - Sandra Schmirler. Sandra led her team to the first-ever Olympic gold medal in women's curling in the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan.

Sandra Schmirler was voted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame just two years before her tragic death from cancer at age 36.

Curling Teams Wearing the Maple Leaf in 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

Cheryl Bernard and her Calgary team will represent Canada at the Olympic Games tournament in February at Vancouver.

Olympic silver medallist Kevin Martin will get his opportunity to go for gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Curling defined

Curling is a team Olympic sport in which stones are slid across a sheet of carefully prepared ice towards a target area.  Game in which two teams of four players each slide a round stone by means of a gooseneck handle on the top over a 138-ft (42-m) stretch of ice toward a target circle. The object is to deliver the stone closest to the centre (called the house). Each player delivers two stones, which average 40 lbs (18.1 kg) apiece, often applying a curl to the stone's trajectory. The player's teammates use a broom to sweep the ice ahead of the oncoming stone in order to facilitate a longer slide or to adjust the arc of the curl. Blocking and knocking out an opponent's stones are important strategies of the sport.

A competitive game usually consists of 10 ends. After both teams have delivered eight stones, the team with the stone closest to the button is awarded one point for each of its own stones that is closer than the opponent's closest stone.

Curling: The History, The Players, The Game

Once a little known sport, played only in Scotland and Canada, curling has exploded onto the international sports scene, culminating in its debut as a full medal sport at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Each year millions of players in North America, Europe, Australia and Japan take to the ice to play this fascinating game -- now an Olympic sport. "Curling" is the ideal book for anyone interested in the sport

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Curling at the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010

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