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 rocks, also called stones, 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. A game usually consists of eight or ten ends.
The World Junior Curling Championships are an annual curling bonspiel featuring the world's best curlers who are 21 years old or younger. The competitions for both men and women occur at the same venue. The men's tournament has occurred since 1975 and the women's since 1988. Since curling became an Olympic sport in 1998, the World Junior Curling Championship of the year preceding the Olympic Games have been held at the site of the curling tournament for the upcoming Games.
Torger Nergård, also spelled Nergaard is a Norwegian curler from Oslo.
The World Senior Curling Championships is an annual curling tournament featuring curlers from around the world who are at least 50 years old. Matches at the World Senior Championships are played in 8 ends played instead of the 10 played in most international events.
Patrick Hürlimann is a Swiss curler, Olympic champion, and Vice-President of the World Curling Federation (WCF). He received a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. He has received three medals at the World Curling Championships as skip for the Swiss team.
Elisabeth Högström is a Swedish curler, world champion and five times European champion.
Matthew James Hamilton is an American curler from Madison, Wisconsin. He is a World Junior Champion, World Men's bronze medalist, and Olympic gold medalist. Hamilton currently plays second for the Duluth, Minnesota-based John Shuster team.
Oskar Ingemar Eriksson is a Swedish curler from Karlstad. He currently plays third for the Niklas Edin rink. He is a five-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 have six World Curling Championship gold medals in the senior men's division and, as of the end of the 2020-21 curling season, has won eleven World Curling Championship medals 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 2021. He won medals in all but one of these championships, as well as playing in multiple positions – as skip, third, second, and as an alternate. He also has reached twenty-seven playoffs at Grand Slam of Curling events, including winning three Grand Slam tournaments and the Pinty's Cup as part of Team Niklas Edin, the first non-Canadian men's team to do so. In 2021, Eriksson and his teammates also became the first men's team in history to win three consecutive World Men's Curling Championships, with Eriksson and Niklas Edin the first two curlers in history to have five gold World Men's Curling Championship medals.
The WCF Hall of Fame is an international curling Hall of Fame that was established by the World Curling Federation (WCF) in 2012. The induction is given as an honor that recognizes outstanding contributions to the sport of curling, and is awarded annually. Inductees are also awarded the World Curling Freytag Award, an award which predated the WCF Hall of Fame as the highest honor given by the WCF. Previous Freytag Award winners have been inducted into the WCF Hall of Fame.
Rasmus Bele Åke Wranå is a Swedish curler from Karlstad. He currently plays second for the Swedish national team, skipped by Niklas Edin. With his teammates Edin, Oskar Eriksson, and Christoffer Sundgren, Wranå became part of the first and only team in history to win three consecutive gold medals at the World Men's Curling Championship. In 2017, Wranå and these same teammates also became the first non-Canadian men's curling team to win three Grand Slam tournaments and the Pinty's Cup, with Wranå reaching 18 Grand Slam playoffs overall during his time with Team Edin. Along with Anders Kraupp, he is one of only two male curlers in Sweden to have won all three Swedish national championships in which he was eligible to compete in the senior division – men's team curling, mixed curling, and mixed doubles.
The mixed doubles curling tournament of the 2018 Winter Olympics was held at the Gangneung Curling Centre from 8 to 13 February 2018. Eight nations competed in a round robin preliminary round, and the top four nations at the conclusion of the round robin qualified for the medal round. This was the first time mixed doubles was held at the Winter Olympics.
Kate Horne is a Canadian curler.
Steve Brown is an American curler and curling coach.
Linda Klímová is a Czech curler.
Thierry Mercier is a French curler and curling coach.
Ritvars Gulbis is a Latvian curler and curling coach.
Sebastian Wunderer is an Austrian male curler.
Kasper Wiksten is a Danish curler.
Annick Mercier is a French curler.
Jaana Jokela is a Finnish curler and curling coach.
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