Ten years ago today, IOC kingpin Juan Antonio Samaranch himself hung gold medals around the necks of Switzerland’s Patrick Hürlimann and his team from Lausanne Olympique, the curling club named after the IOC headquarters in that same Swiss city.
It happened in tiny Karuizawa, a resort town near Nagano, Japan, which usually closes down for winter but was reopened for a very special thing called Olympic Curling. Nagano, of course, was the official host city of the XVIII Olympic Winter Games and the first time the real-deal heavy metal was dished out to those who play The Roaring Game.
Canada’s Sandra Schmirler, tragically felled by cancer less than two years later, won the much-publicized women’s gold.
Silver went to Canada’s Mike Harris and Denmark’s Helena Blach-Lavrsen. The Danes were so pumped they had royal family members in the stands and a couple of curling clubs were built (and now thrive) in the post-Games excitement.
Bronze went to a couple of very highly decorated veterans with multiple world championships to their names: Sweden’s Elisabet Gustafson and Norway’s Eigil Ramsfjell.
Karuizawa celebrates every year with an international tournament, which is going on right now. This year, special 10th anniversary celebrations are planned for the city of Nagano itself.
The World Curling Federation has formally recognized the date, as has the fine weblog Curling Today, the online partner to The Scottish Curler.
Where were you, 10 years ago today? Did you awaken – or stay up – to all hours of the night to see the TV images from the other side of the world? Did anyone really comprehend what a frenzy the pursuit of Olympic dreams would be like today?
Rodger Schmidt, European columnist for The Curling News, has a fascinating viewpoint in the upcoming March issue: take note, as you won’t want to miss it.
And happy anniversary.
To all of us; curling fans... and curling friends.
Elsewhere:
• Speaking of Patrick Hürlimann, the Executive Board member of the World Curling Federation is back on the ice this weekend as the Swiss Championships begin, playing third for Claudio Pescia. That’s potentially bigger news than Russ Howard offering some coaching consultations to Pescia’s former skip, Ralph Stöckli... which is true, by the way ...
• Holy smokes! Did you hear about the Greatest Shot Of All Time (TM) that Kevin Martin made against Randy Ferbey last night in the Alberta provincial?! Well, now you can read all about it courtesy of Terry Jones... and Al Cameron (in both print and online)... and also from Vicki Hall.
The real winners here are CurlTV subscribers; there were no TV cameras at the event except for those belonging to the all-curling webchannel. And now that shot has been archived so that everybody who owns a CurlTV membership can see it.
Lo and behold, the February issue of The Curling News features an advert with a special promotional code for a seriously discounted (50 per cent off!) annual membership to CurlTV. It’s located on page five, by the way ...
• The Scotties, the Canadian Women’s Championship, starts tomorrow – on TSN TV, on CBC Sports Online daily (morning draws, plus semi and final) and also online via CCA scoring – and when a major curling championship comes to Saskatchewan, the prairie stories spill forth. The surviving members of Team Schmirler, incidentally, are all Honourary Chairpersons of the event ...
• Here’s a look at all the teams, including some with a Saskatchewan angle... and you can always place your bets here ...
• And speaking of Sask, Murray McCormick has been profiling Michelle Englot and her home team this week. Today he throws the spotlight on Darlene Kidd, a former junior champ who had been spending a lot of time in Ontario up until recently ...
• OK, skipper Englot is not featured until tomorrow, but here’s another scribe’s recollection of the media-savvy skip who “gets it” ...
• Oh God, it’s Hillcrest again ...
• The ultimate curling online auction continues, as we promoted a few days ago. Items up for grabs, which raise funds for the Sandra Schmirler Foundation, feature some great curling memorabilia from a top competitor: MacDonald Brier montages (1970), MacDonald Brier competitor silverware (1973), Labatt Brier collector pin sets (1988), and even some European Championship pins (1985 and 1995) . Click here for the current lot, and check back often ...
• Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard is back in the Brier... but sadly for Martin Ferland, there is nothing but... deception ...
• Here’s a quick update on the Manitoba men’s provincials from Paul Wiecek, and Sun guy Paul Friesen sums up the time clock boo-boo that gifted Kerry Burtnyk a key victory ...
• We hadn’t heard of this U.S. hotbed before: Casper, Wyoming ...
• Here’s a little squib on curling in The Waltonian, the student pub for Eastern U in St. Davids, PA ...
• Let’s not forget Munster, Indiana ...
• And here’s some outdoor curling vids – don’t forget, part two of our outdoor feature is in the current Feb. issue of TCN and part three arrives next month – from Gun Lake, BC (4 vids) and also some yee-haw action from the heartland of Minnesota...
• Scotland’s men’s championship is underway next week ...
• Dan Dunleavy commentated for last week’s Ontario Men’s Tankard on Rogers TV, and explains the thrill of working with his curling hero ...
• There’s another Capital One Curlers Corner webisode online... you are remembering to check these weekly things out, right? ...
• We are just loving the self-portrait of Orange Girl – the third of three photos in this blogpost ...
• And finally, Johnada has been celebrating Curling Week at his blog – very nice! – but today’s post sees him disagreeing, somewhat, with his Minnesota mate over curling’s status as a good fitness workout.
He quotes a fitness website and its “curling coefficient of .066 calories burnt per minute per kg of body weight” as proof curlers get only a minor workout... inferior, in fact, to fishing in a stream.
We’ll be sure to mail him a copy of the upcoming March issue of TCN, in which some top high-performance coaches break down some real curling “coefficients” and prove that curlers sweat it up much, much more than the casual observer would ever expect ...
It happened in tiny Karuizawa, a resort town near Nagano, Japan, which usually closes down for winter but was reopened for a very special thing called Olympic Curling. Nagano, of course, was the official host city of the XVIII Olympic Winter Games and the first time the real-deal heavy metal was dished out to those who play The Roaring Game.
Canada’s Sandra Schmirler, tragically felled by cancer less than two years later, won the much-publicized women’s gold.
Silver went to Canada’s Mike Harris and Denmark’s Helena Blach-Lavrsen. The Danes were so pumped they had royal family members in the stands and a couple of curling clubs were built (and now thrive) in the post-Games excitement.
Bronze went to a couple of very highly decorated veterans with multiple world championships to their names: Sweden’s Elisabet Gustafson and Norway’s Eigil Ramsfjell.
Karuizawa celebrates every year with an international tournament, which is going on right now. This year, special 10th anniversary celebrations are planned for the city of Nagano itself.
The World Curling Federation has formally recognized the date, as has the fine weblog Curling Today, the online partner to The Scottish Curler.
Where were you, 10 years ago today? Did you awaken – or stay up – to all hours of the night to see the TV images from the other side of the world? Did anyone really comprehend what a frenzy the pursuit of Olympic dreams would be like today?
Rodger Schmidt, European columnist for The Curling News, has a fascinating viewpoint in the upcoming March issue: take note, as you won’t want to miss it.
And happy anniversary.
To all of us; curling fans... and curling friends.
Elsewhere:
• Speaking of Patrick Hürlimann, the Executive Board member of the World Curling Federation is back on the ice this weekend as the Swiss Championships begin, playing third for Claudio Pescia. That’s potentially bigger news than Russ Howard offering some coaching consultations to Pescia’s former skip, Ralph Stöckli... which is true, by the way ...
• Holy smokes! Did you hear about the Greatest Shot Of All Time (TM) that Kevin Martin made against Randy Ferbey last night in the Alberta provincial?! Well, now you can read all about it courtesy of Terry Jones... and Al Cameron (in both print and online)... and also from Vicki Hall.
The real winners here are CurlTV subscribers; there were no TV cameras at the event except for those belonging to the all-curling webchannel. And now that shot has been archived so that everybody who owns a CurlTV membership can see it.
Lo and behold, the February issue of The Curling News features an advert with a special promotional code for a seriously discounted (50 per cent off!) annual membership to CurlTV. It’s located on page five, by the way ...
• The Scotties, the Canadian Women’s Championship, starts tomorrow – on TSN TV, on CBC Sports Online daily (morning draws, plus semi and final) and also online via CCA scoring – and when a major curling championship comes to Saskatchewan, the prairie stories spill forth. The surviving members of Team Schmirler, incidentally, are all Honourary Chairpersons of the event ...
• Here’s a look at all the teams, including some with a Saskatchewan angle... and you can always place your bets here ...
• And speaking of Sask, Murray McCormick has been profiling Michelle Englot and her home team this week. Today he throws the spotlight on Darlene Kidd, a former junior champ who had been spending a lot of time in Ontario up until recently ...
• OK, skipper Englot is not featured until tomorrow, but here’s another scribe’s recollection of the media-savvy skip who “gets it” ...
• Oh God, it’s Hillcrest again ...
• The ultimate curling online auction continues, as we promoted a few days ago. Items up for grabs, which raise funds for the Sandra Schmirler Foundation, feature some great curling memorabilia from a top competitor: MacDonald Brier montages (1970), MacDonald Brier competitor silverware (1973), Labatt Brier collector pin sets (1988), and even some European Championship pins (1985 and 1995) . Click here for the current lot, and check back often ...
• Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard is back in the Brier... but sadly for Martin Ferland, there is nothing but... deception ...
• Here’s a quick update on the Manitoba men’s provincials from Paul Wiecek, and Sun guy Paul Friesen sums up the time clock boo-boo that gifted Kerry Burtnyk a key victory ...
• We hadn’t heard of this U.S. hotbed before: Casper, Wyoming ...
• Here’s a little squib on curling in The Waltonian, the student pub for Eastern U in St. Davids, PA ...
• Let’s not forget Munster, Indiana ...
• And here’s some outdoor curling vids – don’t forget, part two of our outdoor feature is in the current Feb. issue of TCN and part three arrives next month – from Gun Lake, BC (4 vids) and also some yee-haw action from the heartland of Minnesota...
• Scotland’s men’s championship is underway next week ...
• Dan Dunleavy commentated for last week’s Ontario Men’s Tankard on Rogers TV, and explains the thrill of working with his curling hero ...
• There’s another Capital One Curlers Corner webisode online... you are remembering to check these weekly things out, right? ...
• We are just loving the self-portrait of Orange Girl – the third of three photos in this blogpost ...
• And finally, Johnada has been celebrating Curling Week at his blog – very nice! – but today’s post sees him disagreeing, somewhat, with his Minnesota mate over curling’s status as a good fitness workout.
He quotes a fitness website and its “curling coefficient of .066 calories burnt per minute per kg of body weight” as proof curlers get only a minor workout... inferior, in fact, to fishing in a stream.
We’ll be sure to mail him a copy of the upcoming March issue of TCN, in which some top high-performance coaches break down some real curling “coefficients” and prove that curlers sweat it up much, much more than the casual observer would ever expect ...
No comments:
Post a Comment