Curling in Canada

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Curling in Canada
Curling Canada Torino 2006.jpg
The Canadian team during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.
Governing body Curling Canada
First playedc. 1800
Registered players157,788 (2022) [1]
Clubs965 [2]
National competitions
Club competitions
International competitions

Curling is a popular winter sport of played throughout Canada. It holds a significant place in Canadian culture and the country achieved considerable success at the international level.

Contents

Curling Canada serves as the sanctioning body of the sport in the country, it is associated with 14 provincial and territorial curling associations throughout the country (Canada 13 provinces and territories plus Northern Ontario), and it regulates and organizes Canada's national championships in the sport.

Canada's national championships include Scotties Tournament of Hearts women's national championship, the Montana's Brier national men's championship, the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, the Canadian Senior Curling Championships, the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship, the Canadian Under-20 Curling Championships, the Canadian U18 Curling Championships, the CCAA/Curling Canada College Curling Championships, the Canadian Curling Club Championships, the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship and the U Sports curling championships. [3]

History

Canadians playing curling in Banff, 1906. Curling at Banff (HS85-10-16920).jpg
Canadians playing curling in Banff, 1906.

Curling's roots in Canada can be traced back to Scottish immigrants in the early 18th century. Scottish settlers, who were familiar with curling from their homeland, introduced the game to Canada as a way to maintain their cultural traditions. The sport gained popularity among the Scottish communities in the country, and it spread to other regions. [4]

The first recorded curling match in Canada took place in Montreal in 1807 when twenty merchants, mostly Scottish [5] formed the Montreal Curling Club, making it the first organized sporting club in North America.

At the time, pioneers of the sport used stones made out of iron in a similar shape of a tea kettle, they were the primary equipment used. These stones varied in weight for both genders, men could expect their stones to be 60 to 80 pounds (27 to 36 kg) and women could expect 40 to 48 pounds (18 to 21 kg). There are no records, in Scotland or anywhere else, indicating the use of iron stones. In Canada, they became the preferred choice among curlers, including those in the Montreal Curling Club. [4]

In the early 1820s, Scottish immigrants would continue to form curling clubs around the country, most notably in the major cities of Kingston, Québec City and Halifax. [5]

By 1839, Curling grew prominent enough within the country for vendors in Toronto to be selling custom and local made granite stones for the sport. In 1840, "The Canadian Curler's Manual" by James Bicket, secretary of the Toronto Curling Club [6] was published, making it Canada's first book on curling. [5]

The Canadian curling scene experienced a surge in competitive fervor during the early years, marked by the emergence of teams engaging in intercity matchups, commencing in 1835. In 1858, teams began engaging in interprovincial competitions, and subsequently, in 1865, a significant milestone was achieved with the inaugural international bonspiel held in Buffalo, New York, where Canadian and American clubs came together to compete. [5]

The harsh winter Canadian weather conditions posed challenges on the practice of curling, in 1838, the Montreal Curling Club were likely the first team to move the sport indoors, other clubs would follow their lead and by 1859, Toronto had its first indoor facility, soon after, indoor curling rinks became common across the nation. This subsequently helped the growth of ice hockey as by the 1890s, the sport became increasingly popular and most would-be professional teams used curling rinks to house their games. [5]

National Team

Since the reinstatement of the sport to the Olympics in 1998, both the Canadian men's and women's national curling teams have maintained an unbroken record of participation in every Winter Olympics' curling event. [7] [8] Canada has had large success in the sport, they are considered to be the strongest team in the history of national curling. [9]

Men's

The Men's Canadian national curling team has achieved historic success, amassing 36 gold medals in World Curling Championships, making them the most decorated team in the history of the sport. In addition, their total medal count in the event stands at an impressive 57, further solidifying their position as the all-time leader. This sets them apart from their closest contender, Scotland, who holds 6 gold medals and 36 total medals, respectively. [10]

The team has also seen success at the Olympic level, garnering the most gold medals in the history of the event with a total of 3, which they won consecutively. They have placed on podium for all years they have participated in, but one at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics where they placed 4th. [8]

Women's

The Women's Canadian national curling team have also achieved historic success, amassing 18 gold medals and 37 total medals in World Curling Championships, making them the most decorated in women's curling. [11] [9]

The team has earned two Olympic gold medals, placing them second in the overall rankings, just behind Sweden with three gold medals. They are also among the seven teams tied for the most total medals, with a combined count of seven. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curling</span> Team sport played on ice

Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called rocks, across the ice curling sheet toward the house, a circular target marked on the ice. Each team has eight stones, with each player throwing two. The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a game; points are scored for the stones resting closest to the centre of the house at the conclusion of each end, which is completed when both teams have thrown all of their stones once. A game usually consists of eight or ten ends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colleen Jones</span> Canadian curler and television personality

Colleen Patricia Jones is a Canadian curler and television personality. She is best known as the skip of two women's world championship teams and six Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's championships, including an unprecedented four titles in a row and held the record for most Tournament of Hearts wins from when she won her 67th game in 1994 until her eventual 152 wins were eclipsed by Jennifer Jones in 2021.

Rhona Howie, MBE, better known under her married name, Rhona Martin, is a British curler most famous for skipping the British women's team at the 2002 Winter Olympics, where the team claimed the gold medal. She has also skipped for the Scotland curling team at both the World and European Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Martin (curler)</span> Canadian curler and Olympic champion

Kevin Martin, nicknamed "The Old Bear" and "K-Mart", is a Canadian retired curler originally from Lougheed, Alberta and residing in Edmonton. He is an Olympic, World and four-time Canadian champion and a member of the World Curling Hall of Fame. He is considered by many commentators and former and current curlers to be the greatest curler of all time. He is also known for his rivalries with Randy Ferbey/David Nedohin, the best Alberta provincial rivalry ever as the two teams were generally regarded the best in the world from 2002 to 2006; his rivalry with Jeff Stoughton, perhaps the most famous all prairies rivalry ever which spanned over 2 decades from 1991 to 2014; with Glenn Howard from 2007 to 2014, perhaps the best two team rivalry in Canadian curling history, and his rivalry with Sweden's Peja Lindholm from 1997 to 2006, perhaps the best ever men's Canada-Europe rivalry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Murdoch</span> Scottish curler (born 1978)

David Matthew Murdoch is a retired Scottish curler from Stirling. As the Scotland skip, he and his former team of Ewan MacDonald, Warwick Smith, Euan Byers and Peter Smith are the 2006 and 2009 World Curling Champions. Representing Great Britain, he has been skip at three Winter Olympics, Torino 2006, finishing fourth, Vancouver 2010, finishing fifth and Sochi 2014, where he won an Olympic silver medal. He served as national and Olympic coach for British Curling since September 2018, before being named Curling Canada's high-performance director in early 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada at the Winter Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Canada has competed at every Winter Olympic Games, and has won at least one medal each time. By total medals, the country's best performance was in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games where Canadian athletes won 29 medals. Canada set a new record for most gold medals won by a country in a single Winter Olympics with 14 at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. This achievement surpassed the previous record of 13 gold medals held by the Soviet Union (1976) and Norway (2002). Both Germany and Norway matched the record total of 14 gold medals in Pyeongchang in 2018. This record has since been surpassed by Norway with 16 at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niklas Edin</span> Swedish curler from Örnsköldsvik, Sweden

Johan Niklas Edin is a Swedish curler. He currently resides in Karlstad, which has been his curling home base since 2008. He holds several sport distinctions. He is the first and the only skip in World Curling Federation (WCF) history to win three Olympic medals – gold (2022), silver (2018), and bronze (2014) – and to skip men's curling teams to seven World Men's Curling Championship medals. He is also a seven-time European Curling Championship titleholder and won three silver medals in those championships. He is currently tied with Oskar Eriksson in first place on the WCF-recognized list of championship medals, with thirty-eight in total. He reached the playoffs in forty-five Grand Slam of Curling events and won the Pinty's Cup with his current teammates, Oskar Eriksson, Rasmus Wranå, and Christopher Sundgren. With the same lineup in 2022, Edin and his teammates also became the first and only men's curling team to win a fourth consecutive World Men's Curling Championship. Edin has played exclusively in the position of skip since 2007. The team bearing his name has been ranked on the World Curling Tour as high as No. 1, including for most of the 2017–18 season. As of the end of the 2021–22 Curling Season, Team Edin was ranked in the top three teams in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport in Saskatchewan</span>

Sports in Saskatchewan consist of a wide variety of team and individual games, and include summer, winter, indoor, and outdoor games. Saskatchewan's cold winter climate has ensured the popularity of sports including its official sport, curling, as well as ice hockey, ice skating, and cross-country skiing. The province also has warm summers and popular summer sports include baseball, football, soccer, basketball, track and field, rodeo, horse-racing, and golf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eve Muirhead</span> Scottish curler (born 1990)

Eve Muirhead is a Scottish former curler from Perth and the skip of the British Olympic Curling team. Muirhead and the GB team became Olympic champions at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Wang Fengchun is a Chinese curler. He is the skip of the national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Curling Association</span> National governing body of the sport of curling

The United States Curling Association is the national governing body of the sport of curling in the United States. The goal of the USCA is to grow the sport of curling in the United States and win medals in competitions both domestic and abroad. Curling's recent popularity has swelled the USCA to 185 curling clubs and approximately 23,500 curlers in the United States. The United States Olympic men's curling teams have seen success in recent years, most notably winning the gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, led by skip John Shuster.

The Caledonian Curling Club, also known as the Callie, is a curling club located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Established in 1915, the club is among the oldest in the province and has been the home of many championship teams, including the Sandra Schmirler rink, which won three provincial, national, and world championships in the 1990s and the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oskar Eriksson</span> Swedish curler from Karlstad

Oskar Ingemar Eriksson is a Swedish curler from Karlstad. He currently plays third for the Niklas Edin rink. He is the first curler in history to win four Olympic medals – gold, silver, and two bronze – and the first to secure two Olympic medals in different curling disciplines in the same Olympic Games. He is also a seven-time World Men's Curling Champion, seven-time European Men's Curling Champion, and the first curler in history to win three gold medals in major international curling championships in a single calendar year – the World Men's Curling Championship, the European Curling Championship, and the World Mixed Doubles Championship. Having also won two World Mixed Doubles Championship medals, he is the first and the only curler to win eight World Curling Championship gold medals in the senior men's division and has won thirteen World Curling Championship medals overall in that division. He also holds the record for most gold medals in international competitions as recognized by the World Curling Federation. He is the only member of Team Sweden to have competed in all of the World Men's Curling Championships from 2011 to 2024. He won medals in all but two of these championships, as well as playing in multiple positions – as skip, third, second, and as an alternate. In 2022, Eriksson and his teammates also became the first men's team in history to win four consecutive World Men's Curling Championships. In 2024, Eriksson and Niklas Edin became the first and only two curlers in history to have seven career gold World Men's Curling Championship medals.

Tyler George is an American curler from Duluth, Minnesota. He is a three-time U.S. Champion, 2016 World bronze medalist, and 2018 Olympic gold medalist. Since the 2018 Olympics, he has taken a break from playing competitive curling, instead spending time as an ambassador and coach for the sport.

Thomas Brewster Jr. is a Scottish curler from Aberdeen, Scotland. He is currently the coach of the Kyle Waddell men's team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Kyeong-ae (curler)</span> South Korean curler (born 1994)

Kim Kyeong-ae, nicknamed "Steak" is a South Korean curler. She currently plays third on Team Kim Eun-jung. The Kim team represented South Korea at the 2018 Winter Olympics, where they won a silver medal.

Kim Seon-yeong, nicknamed "Sunny" is a South Korean curler. She was the second, but now plays lead on Team Kim Eun-jung. The Kim team represented South Korea at the 2018 Winter Olympics, where they won a silver medal.

Kim Yeong-mi, nicknamed "Pancake" is a South Korean curler. She was the lead, but now is the alternate on Team Kim Eun-jung. The Kim team represented South Korea at the 2018 Winter Olympics, where they won a silver medal.

Victoria Drummond, better known as Vicky Wright is a retired Scottish curler from Stranraer, and 2022 Olympic Champion in women's curling, playing third on Team Muirhead.

References

  1. "Government of Canada announces financial support for Curling Canada" . Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  2. "Curling Canada | Find a curling centre" . Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  3. "Curling Canada | What we do" . Retrieved 2023-06-06.
  4. 1 2 "Curling Canada | History of Curling" . Retrieved 2023-06-06.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Curling". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
  6. "The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Canadian Curler's Manual by James Bicket". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
  7. "History of curling". World Curling Federation. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  8. 1 2 "Curling". Team Canada – Official Olympic Team Website. 2011-08-10. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  9. 1 2 3 "Everything you need to know about the top Curling nations".
  10. "Championships by type". results.worldcurling.org. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  11. "World Women's Curling Championship 2023 Standings: Einarson, Canada defeat Sweden to win bronze". www.sportingnews.com. 2023-03-17. Retrieved 2023-06-07.