Curling is an Olympic sport that is mesmerizing

Hockey is considered to be the fastest team sport on ice, but curling is the slowest, most deliberate and most cerebral. Some say curling is “chess on ice.”

Indeed, it takes a lot of mental energy and finesse to be able to make a 44-pound stone glide and curl (or curve) down an icy runway and then stop where you want it to. 

The United States has qualified for all three curling events in the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, being hosted in Beijing, China. Americans will compete in men’s and women’s team events as well as mixed doubles. 

The U.S. is the defending gold medalist in the men’s division, having upset Sweden in the finals in South Korea in 2018. That accomplishment was dubbed the “miracurl on ice.” 

The 2022 Olympics curling action begins Feb. 2 and runs through the final day, Feb. 20.

 

The sport of curling originated in Scotland many moons ago. The special grade of granite that is used to make the Olympic curling stones comes exclusively from Ailsa Craig, a small island that sticks up in the Firth of Clyde, off the west coast of Scotland. 

(Ailsa Craig is a hump of ancient volcanic rock that is shaped a lot like North Carolina’s Pilot Mountain. No humans live on Ailsa Craig; it is a bird sanctuary and home to a large array of species, including gannets, puffins and kittiwakes.)

 

The curling stones are manufactured by Kays of Scotland, based in Mauchline within Ayrshire County, near Kilmarnock. Kays is a family-owned business that began operation in 1851 and has the exclusive rights to the Ailsa Craig granite. The Kays’ workshop employs six craftsmen who produce five stones a day. 

Each circular curling stone also has a diameter of 11 inches and stands about 6 inches tall with a plastic handle affixed to the top. 

Are you ready to play? The field of play is called a “sheet.” Essentially, it’s a strip of ice. The sheet is “generally 150 feet long by 15 feet wide.” 

One player glides and releases (throws) the stone toward the “house,” which is the bullseye-shaped target near the end of each sheet. This is the scoring area, made up of three concentric circles – a 12-foot ring, an 8-foot ring and a 4-foot ring. At the center is a 1-foot circle dubbed “the button.”

 

At the conclusion of each round of play, the team with the stone closest to the button gets a point. Teams score extra points for each additional stone that is closer to the button than their opponents’ stones. 

Dina Spector, who is the managing editor of Business Insider UK and based in London, said the role of the sweepers in curling is crucial. The players with brooms often “furiously sweep the surface in front of the stone. The sweeping motion heats up the ice, causing it to become slick, which makes the rock curl less and therefore move straighter.”

 

Dr. Mark Shegelski, a physics professor at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, said friction influences the movement of the curling stone. “Vigorously sweeping the ice in front of the rock makes it travel a few meters farther than if the stone had continued without interference,” Dr. Shegelski said. 

“If a rock is shot too fast, the sweepers can’t do anything. But if it’s light, they can bring it where they want.”