What is curling?

Curling is a precision team sport similar to bowlsOutdoor curling was very popular in Scotland
or bocce, played on a rectangular sheet ofbetween the sixteenth and the nineteenth
prepared ice by two teams of four players each,centuries as the climate provided good ice
using heavy polished granite stones which theyconditions every winter.
slide down the ice towards a target area calledScotland is home to the international governing
the house. Points are scored for the number ofbody for curling, the World Curling Federation,
stones that a team has closer to the center ofPerth, which originated as a committee of the
the target than the closest of the other team'sRoyal Caledonian Curling Club, the mother club of
stones. The level of precision and complex naturecurling.
of the strategic thinking required to win has ledToday the game is most firmly established in
curling to be referred to as "chess on ice."Canada, having been taken there by Scottish
Origins and historyemigrants. The Royal Montreal Curling Club, the
Men Curling in Ontario in 1909The game is thoughtoldest active athletic club of any kind in North
to be invented in late medieval Scotland, with theAmerica, was established in 1807. The first curling
first written reference to a contest using stonesclub in the United States began in 1832, and the
on ice coming from the records of Paisley Abbey,game was introduced to Switzerland and Sweden
Renfrew, in February, 1541. Two paintings (bothbefore the end of the nineteenth century, also by
dated 1565 ) by Pieter Brueghel the Elder depictScots. Today, curling is played all over Europe and
Dutch peasants curling (Scotland and the Lowhas spread to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and
Countries had strong trading and cultural linkseven the People's Republic of China and Korea.
during this period, which is also evident in theThe first world curling championship in the sport
history of golf).was limited to men and was known as the
The word curling first appears in print in 1620 in"Scotch Cup" held in Falkirk and Edinburgh,
Perth, Scotland, in the preface and the verses ofScotland, in 1959. The first ever world title was
a poem by Henry Adamson. The game was (andwon by the Canadian team from Regina,
still is, in Scotland) also known as "the roaringSaskatchewan, skipped by Ernie Richardson. (The
game" because of the sound the stones makeskip is the team captain, see below.)
while traveling over the pebble (droplets of waterCurling has been an official sport in the Winter
applied to the playing surface). The word derivesOlympic Games since the 1998 Winter Olympics.
from the Scots language verb curr [2] whichIn February 2006, the International Olympic
describes a low rumble (a cognate of the EnglishCommittee retroactively decided that the curling
language verb purr). The word does not take itscompetition from the 1924 Winter Olympics
name from the motion of the stones, which due(originally called Semaine des Sports d'Hiver or
to their deviation from a straight-line trajectoryInternational Winter Sports Week) would be
are said to curl.considered official Olympic events and no longer
In the early history of curling, the rocks werebe considered demonstration events. Thus, the
simply flat-bottomed river stones which werefirst Olympic medals in curling, which at the time
sometimes notched or shaped; the thrower hadwas played outside, were awarded for the 1924
little control over the rock, and relied more onWinter Games with the gold medal won by Great
luck than skill to win, unlike today's reliance on skillBritain and Ireland, two silver medals by Sweden
and strategy.and the bronze by France.