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Olympic Curling Sport
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Olympic Curling: A sporting game played on ice both in clubs and as an Olympic event, requiring a great deal of strategy and teamwork, earning it the nickname “Chess on Ice.”
Rules:
- Players: 2 teams, 4 players for each team (2 in Mixed Doubles)
- No contact
- Each team has eight stones, players take turns sliding the stones across the ice towards the target, or “house”.
- Each round, or “end”, is completed when both teams have thrown all their stones. A game consists of ten or eight ends.
- Each team earns a point for every stone closest to the target in each end. The team with highest score at the end of the game wins.
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Equipment:
- Curling stone: Aka a “rock”, a thick disk made of polished granite, weighing between 38 and 44 lbs, with an attached handle to grip and rotate the stone upon release.
- Curling broom: Similar in appearance to household brooms, used by players to sweep the ice surface in the path of the stone, also used as a balancing aid during delivery.
- Curling shoes: Shoes worn to walk and/or slide on the ice without slipping.
Diagram of the Curling Sheet:
- The playing surface, or curling sheet, is an area of ice (either natural or man-made like an ice-rink) carefully prepared to be as level as possible with water droplets frozen as tiny bumps to the surface which reduces friction between stone and ice in order to reduce contact area.
- It ranges up to 146 to 150 feet in length by 14.5 to 16.5 in width.
- A target, or house, is marked at the end of each sheet, consisting of three rings either painted on or a vinyl sheet laid on under the ice.
- Each house is centered on the intersection of the centre line and one of the tee lines, set 16 feet from the backboard.
- Two hog lines are set 37 feet from the backboard, the area between it and the tee line known as the “Free Guard Zone”.
- The area between the backline, set behind the outermost ring, and the backboard is known as the hackline.
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Strategy:
One player, the slider, will start at the hackline and draw the stone back and push himself and the stone forward. The slider must release the stone before crossing the first line. Two other players, sweepers, use curling brooms to create a path for the stone in order to reach the target, directed by the skip (team captain). Strategy and planning is greatly involved, as the skip must anticipate the path the stone must take in order to reach the target mark.
More... If you'd like to see more ice rink action, check out Ice Hockey, Figure Skating, and the Speed Skating events: Long Track and Short Track.
CHART BELOW: We added these winter "one-pagers" to our Sports Know-How category in time for the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) that were held in January 2012. We got inspired by the 2012 London Summer Games to add to our Summer Sports category. We'll be adding sports periodically so keep checking back. If the titles are shining brightly in white text, they're ready for you to click on! ^.^
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