Welcome to your go-to information to the 2026 Winter Olympics. We’re monitoring all the things—from real-life heated rivalries (sure, they exist) to under-the-radar sports activities and shock standouts—so you possibly can atone for all of our protection in a single place.
In case you’ve come throughout a curling match throughout the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, you had been most likely no less than a bit of intrigued. It could seem to be a sleepy exercise, devoid of any motion or pleasure, however assume once more. Curling is a difficult sport, and that’s the reason there’s an alleged dishonest scandal stirring up controversy on the Winter Video games.
Curling is usually thought of extra of a “gradual” winter occasion, particularly when in comparison with different ones that contain velocity, flips, leaps, tumbles, and catching a complete lot of air. Nonetheless, what this sport lacks in dazzling feats, it makes up for with ability and suspense. Nonetheless, to the untrained eye, recognizing the motion isn’t at all times apparent. That’s one cause it’s possible you’ll hear folks poke enjoyable on the sport, joking that the livid ice-sweeping seems extra like housecleaning than an athletic occasion.
However curling deserves respect: In any case, with origins within the sixteenth century, it’s one of many oldest workforce sports activities on the earth. And when you study extra about it, together with why it’s referred to as curling, the way it’s gained, and what the gamers are actually yelling about, you’ll understand this sport will be chock-full of pleasure too.
What’s curling and when did it change into an Olympic sport?
Curling is a workforce sport—made up of 4 gamers on every single-gendered workforce, or groups of two in combined doubles—that takes place on ice. Gamers are outfitted with their very own brush in addition to particular dual-soled footwear, which permit them to both slide on the ice or grip the ice.
The aim of curling is to slip 44-pound granite stones towards a goal, often known as a home, within the heart of the ice. To assist the granite stones get to their goal, gamers on the workforce are allowed to begin sweeping the ice after it’s thrown. This helps clear away particles that may gradual the stone down or mess with its path; sweeping additionally barely melts the ice, which makes the stone transfer sooner.
Based on the Smithsonian, curling will get its identify from how the stone turns (or curls) on the finish of its path on the ice.
Curling made its Olympic debut on the first-ever Winter Video games in Chamonix, France, in 1924. Nonetheless, the game didn’t seem on the Olympic program once more till the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The ladies’s sport made its Olympic debut in 1998, and combined doubles had been added to this system on the 2018 PyeongChang Video games.
How do you win at curling?
Curling is often performed over 10 ends or rounds. In four-person curling, every workforce takes turns throwing eight stones every spherical. The groups alternate throws, and 16 stones whole are thrown every spherical. The lead throws the primary two rocks, the second throws the second two rocks, the third throws the third two, and the skip, or the captain, throws the final two.
