The people of Scotland used to play with various stones on the frozen pond. The Grand Caledonian club formulated the rules for Curling during the late In , the name of the club was changed to Royal Caledonian Curling Club. The peek development in the sport took place in the 20th century. In , curling was introduced for the first time in the Winter Olympics in Chamonix. Later it was dropped from the Olympics and again re-introduced as a demonstration sport in lake placid in the year Finally, in , it was given official Winter Olympic sport status and since then it has been played in both men and women category.
In February , International Olympic Committee named it as the official sport. The first award for the sport was given to the demonstration match in which, Great Britain and Ireland bagged gold medals whereas Sweden and France won two silvers and one bronze medals respectively. The participant nations are often called as curlers. However, in mixed doubles, a blank end also causes the hammer to be passed to the opposing team.
In mixed doubles, teams have the right to use a power play once in every game. In most ends, the pre-placed stones, will be positioned so that the team with last stone advantage will start the end with one stone at the back of the four-foot circle red in this example.
The team without the last stone advantage, will start with a centre guard yellow in this example. When a power play is being used, the pre-placed stones will be moved out to one of the sides, and placed as a corner guard yellow in this example and a stone behind it, with the back of the stone against the tee line red in this example. An average game of championship curling lasts up to three hours. Teams are given a set amount of Thinking Time depending on the discipline and number of ends being played.
In traditional ten-end games, each team receives 38 minutes of thinking time. This is reduced to 30 minutes for eight-end games. Wheelchair curling teams receive 38 minutes of thinking time for an eight-end game, while mixed doubles teams receive 22 minutes. To play curling, a set of stones are needed.
They are made of a special type of granite and weigh almost 20 kilos each. Each curler has their own brush and a pair of special curling shoes with one sole that grips the ice and one slippery sole — called a Slider — to be able to slide with a stone during delivery. A gripper is a removable rubber sole to protect the slider, keep it clean and allow the curler to be stable on the ice. There are three types of curling shots — a Guard, a Draw and a Take-out, but there are many variations of these shots.
When in motion a stone will curl across the sheet of ice. When delivering a stone, players will turn the stone clockwise or counter-clockwise. By applying a rotation, and making the stone curl on the pebbled ice, players have more control over where the stone comes to rest.
The idea of sweeping is to gently warm the surface of the ice where the stone will glide across. In order to do this, you have to sweep the ice with downward force.
Sweeping can extend the path of the stone. Good sweeping can allow a stone to travel two or three metres further. Sweeping can also reduce the curl and make the trajectory of the stone straighter.
Because of the length of the sheet of curling ice, curlers often shout to communicate with teammates. If Team A had one stone on the button and a stone a few feet off the button, while Team B had a stone on the outer edge of the house, Team A scores two points. The team that fails to score in an end gets the hammer, or the advantage of throwing the last stone, in the next end.
If no stones remain in the house after an end, no points are awarded: the team with the hammer in a scoreless, or blank, end retains the hammer in the subsequent end. The team with the most points after 10 ends wins the match. After a curler throws a stone, his or her teammates will often start sweeping the ice in front the stone as it glides down the ice.
Why is sweeping the activity that requires the most exertion in this particular Olympic sport? The sweeping warms the ice and reduces friction, allowing the stone to travel farther and straighter. A mixed doubles tournament! Mixed doubles curling teams consist of just two players — a woman and a man — instead of the usual four players per team. Matches are eight ends long, not 10, and the two players alternate throwing five stones per end instead of eight: one player throws the first and last stones, while the other throws the second, third, and fourth rocks.
Mixed doubles adds a wrinkle. The team with the hammer decides where the stone is positioned; if the team places its stone as the guard, however, the other team gets to take the last shot of the end. In a perfect world, would curling power plays involve broomstick fighting and a penalty box like they do in hockey, rather than moving rocks around? But a more genteel game will do just fine. Mixed doubles scoring is the same as the traditional curling game. The team with the most stones closest to the button earns the points in that end.
This year is no exception.
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