The curling coin

Heard about the coins?

The Royal Canadian Mint is releasing 17 Olympic sport coins between now and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The first batch goes on sale today, at Canada Post outlets, RBC bank branches and at Petro-Canada gas stations.

And the first coin features curling. Specifically, the image of a female curler.

The inaugural curling coin, a 25-cent piece, shows the athlete in the process of throwing her rock on a stylized Maple Leaf background. Up to 350 million of the coins will be put into circulation before the 2010 Games.

Petro-Canada customers can now swap their regular coins for the curling quarter at no charge. Petro-Canada retail locations will also sell an exclusive Vancouver 2010 coin sport cards, featuring a special colour version of each circulation coin embedded in a laminated sleeve. The curling quarter sits within a green collector’s card with an additional curling graphic – yes, it looks cool, and is well worth the $7.95 price tag. What’s more, a portion of the proceeds go to Canadian athletes and coaches through the Petro-Canada’s Fuelling the Dream Fund.

Judging by the lineup The Curling News saw at a Petro-Canada internal launch yesterday, the collector-card versions will be very popular items between now and Vancouver 2010. There was also a media launch in Calgary yesterday, featuring three members of the bronze-medal Shannon Kleibrink team.

Considering the lack of attention that women’s curling received in the early days, the coin is a huge step forward, six-time Canadian champion Colleen Jones told Canadian Press.

“I think it’s fantastic that they’ve chosen curling in their first of a series and the fact they put a woman on a coin is wonderful,” said Jones. "There are so many female curlers in the country and so many great players too that to honour the sport and honour women in sports is great."

Now... the next step is to get a curler on the face of this coin. Can you imagine?

Elsewhere:

• It’s not just the Canadian women who decide their national champion this weekend; it’s also showtime in Scotland (men and women) and Switzerland (men and women), too ...

• And not to forget the World Wheelchair Curling Championships, drawing to a close tomorrow in Solleftea, Sweden ...

• Hamilton – next week – is under the microscope ...

• There’s a political scandal with curling overtones brewing in Albany, N.Y – and yes, we’re serious ...

• Will we have more clues of What Is This? posted soon? You bet we will. Keep the speculation coming ...