by Cameron Scott

Created on: February 22, 2010   Last Updated: February 26, 2010

Olympic curling consists of two events: men’s curling and women’s curling. It became an official Olympic event at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games. Despite the example given by Marge and Homer Simpson, mixed doubles curling was not an official event at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

The sport of Olympic curling is played on a long, narrow sheet of ice by teams of four. Each curling team has four members: the lead, second, third (or vice-skip), and skip, who is also the captain of the team. Each member of the team delivers two heavy granite stones to the opposite end of the ice, alternating with the corresponding member of the other team. The skips are responsible for deciding the shots to be played. In most cases the skips of the two teams also shoot last, which gives them the hardest shots. On some teams, the skips might shoot second or third instead. The last rock of all is called the ‘hammer.’

The goal of Olympic curling is to end up with a rock as close to the centre of a marked target area, or ‘house,’ as possible. (A detailed description of curling ice and its markings is available here.) Three types of shots are used to accomplish this goal: the guard, the draw, and the takeout. The free guard zone rule does not allow most takeouts until each team has delivered at least two stones. Only stones which land between the second hog line and the back line are in play. A stone must also be released by the person delivering it before it passes the first hog line. Stones that fall short or go too far are out of play and removed from the play area.

Curling brooms are used to sweep the ice in front of a moving rock, temporarily melting the ice and decreasing its friction. This decreases the curl of the rock. It doesn’t make the rock go faster, but it keeps the rock from slowing down as much. The team delivering the rock may sweep the ice in front of the rock up to the halfway point of the house. Past that point, the other team may sweep instead, usually to make the rock go out of play. Neither the sweepers nor any other member of the team are allowed to touch a rock in play.

An Olympic match consists of ten ends. An end is complete after each team has thrown all of its eight rocks. If at the end of a match the score is tied, one or more extra ends are played until the tie is broken. Each team has 73 minutes to complete all its throws, with ten minutes of additional playing time per extra end.

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