Curling is a sport in which competitors roll stones over an ice sheet in the direction of a four-circle target area. This game is associated with bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams of four players alternate sliding big, polished granite boulders, also known as stones, over the ice curling sheet in the direction of the house, a circular target marked on the ice, in the direction of the house. Each player throws two stones, giving each team a total of eight.
The object of the game is to earn the highest possible score; points are granted for stones that are closest to the center of the house at the conclusion of each end, which is completed once both teams have thrown all of their stones. A game typically has eight or ten ends.Curling was included in the program of the inaugural Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924, but the results of that competition were not recognized by the IOC until 2006.
The sport was ultimately placed in the official schedule for the Nagano Games in 1998. Until 2018, men’s and women’s events were contested separately. From February 2 through February 20, there will be curling competitions every day of the events. Curling will be included in the Olympics for the sixth time. In the men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles competitions, eleven countries will compete.
What does freeze mean in curling at Winter Olympics?
In curling, a freeze is a shot that comes to a complete halt in front of an opponent’s stone, limiting the scoring area for the opponent. In other words, it is adraw-weight shot in which the delivered stone collides with a stationary stone, making it virtually hard to remove.Ice can be hurled at the stone’s snout or one of its corners.
Curling developed in Scotland in the early 1500s on ice lochs and marshes, a tradition that is still celebrated today during bonspiels with bagpipe ceremonies (curling tournaments). Ailsa Craig, a Scottish island off the coast, provides much of the granite used in today’s curling stones.
The sport has spread to Canada, where more than a million people participate in the sport. Clubs formed in the upper Midwest states in the 1830s to play on frozen lakes and in flooded sheds. Curling became a permanent Olympic event in 1998, after making its debut in the 1924 Olympics.
Freeze in curling (curlingbasics.com)
If you want to watch the Winter Olympics from the US, go tofuboTV (7 Day Free Trial Streaming) and Peacock, while if you are in Canada, you can watch it onfuboTV (free trial).
see also
Winter Olympics 2022: How much does a curling stone weigh?
