Curling is a sport in
which players slide stones on
a sheet of ice towards 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 towards the house, a circular target marked on
the ice.[2]
Each team has eight stones. 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 curler can induce a curved path by causing the stone to
slowly turn as it slides, and the path of the rock may be further
influenced by two sweepers with brooms who accompany it as it
slides down the sheet, using the brooms to alter the state of the
ice in front of the stone. A great deal of strategy and teamwork go
into choosing the ideal path and placement of a stone for each
situation, and the skills of the curlers determine how close to the
desired result the stone will achieve. This gives curling its
nickname of "chess on ice".[3][4]
Curling was invented in medieval Scotland, with the first
written reference to a contest using stones on ice coming from the
records of Paisley Abbey, Renfrewshire, in February 1541. Two paintings,
"Winter
Landscape with a Bird Trap" and "The Hunters in the Snow" (both dated
1565) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder depict
Flemish peasants curling—Scotland and the Low Countries had strong trading and cultural
links during this period, which is also evident in the history of golf.
Street sign in the village of Ceres,
Fife. A bowling green now occupies the former site of the curling
pond.
Evidence that curling existed in Scotland in the early 16th
century includes a curling stone inscribed with the date 1511
uncovered (along with another bearing the date 1551) when an old
pond was drained at Dunblane, Scotland.[5]
Kilsyth Curling Club claims to be the
first club in the world, having been formally constituted in 1716;
it is still in existence today.[6]
Kilsyth also claims the oldest purpose-built curling pond in the
world at Colzium, in the form of a low dam creating a shallow
pool some 100 × 250 metres in size.
The word curling first appears in print in 1620 in
Perth, Scotland, in the preface
and the verses of a poem by Henry Adamson. The game was (and still is, in
Scotland and Scottish-settled regions like southern New Zealand)
also known as "the roaring game" because of the sound the stones
make while traveling over the pebble (droplets of water
applied to the playing surface). The verbal noun curling
is formed from the Scots (and English) verb
curl,[7]
which describes the motion of the stone.
In the early history of curling, the playing stones were simply
flat-bottomed river stones, which were of inconsistent size, shape
and smoothness. Unlike today, the thrower had little control over
the 'curl' or velocity and relied more on luck than on precision,
skill and strategy.
In Darvel, East Ayrshire, the weavers relaxed by playing
curling matches using the heavy stone weights from the looms'
warp beams, fitted with a detachable handle for the
purpose. Many a wife would keep her husband's brass curling stone
handle on the mantelpiece, brightly polished until the next time it
was needed.[8]
Central Canadian curlers often used 'irons' rather than stones
until the early 1900s, Canada is the only country known to have
done so, while others experimented with wood or ice-filled
tins.[9]
Outdoor curling was very popular in Scotland between the 16th
and 19th centuries because the climate provided good ice conditions
every winter. Scotland is home to the international governing body
for curling, the World Curling Federation, Perth,
which originated as a committee of the Royal Caledonian Curling
Club, the mother club of curling.
Men curling in Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
in 1909
Today, the game is most firmly established in Canada, having been taken there by
Scottish emigrants. The Royal Montreal Curling Club, the
oldest established sports club still active in North America,[10]
was established in 1807. The first curling club in the United States was established in 1830, and the
game was introduced to Switzerland and Sweden
before the end of the 19th century, also by Scots. Today, curling
is played all over Europe and has spread to Brazil, Japan,
Australia, New Zealand, China, and Korea.[11]
The first world championship for curling was limited to men and
was known as the Scotch Cup, held in Falkirk
and Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1959. The first world title was won by
the Canadian team from Regina, Saskatchewan, skipped by
Ernie Richardson. (The
skip is the team member who calls the shots; see
below.)
St. Moritz ist eine politische Gemeinde im Kreis Oberengadin, Bezirk Maloja des schweizerischen Kantons Graubünden. Der Ort ist benannt
nach dem heiligen Mauritius, der auch im Wappen
abgebildet ist.
Die Gemeinde ist einer der berühmtesten Kurorte
und Wintersportplätze der Welt. 1928 und 1948 wurden
hier Olympische Winterspiele
abgehalten.
Die Gemeinde St. Moritz besteht aus den zusammengefassten
Ortsteilen St. Moritz-Dorf,
St. Moritz-Bad, Suvretta und der einen
Hälfte des zwei Kilometer entfernten Champfèr – die andere Hälfte von
Champfèr gehört zu Silvaplana. St. Moritz-Dorf (1'822 m)
liegt am steilen Nordufer des St. Moritzersees, St. Moritz-Bad
(1'774 m)
und Champfèr (1'825 m)
auf je einer Ebene westlich des St. Moritzersees.
In südwestlicher Richtung zwischen St. Moritz und Maloja
liegt die Engadiner Seenplatte, die aus dem St. Moritzer-,
Champfèrer-, Silvaplaner- und Silsersee besteht. Die Höhendifferenz vom
St. Moritzersee bis zum 15 Kilometer entfernten Malojapass beträgt nur knapp 50 Meter. Östlich von
St. Moritz liegen der Stazerwald und die Charnadüra-Schlucht, durch die man auf die 50
Meter tiefer gelegene nächste grosse Ebene gelangt, die bis ins 20
Kilometer entfernte S-chanf nur 60 Höhenmeter Gefälle
aufweist.
Der Hausberg, auf dem auch das 23 Anlagen umfassende
Winterskigebiet liegt, heisst Corviglia und Piz Nair (3'057 m)
und liegt nördlich des Dorfes. Etwas unbekannter, aber durch seine
Höhe und Form imposanter, ist der Piz Güglia/Julier (3'380 m).
Die Gemeinde St. Moritz besteht aus den zusammengefassten
Ortsteilen St. Moritz-Dorf,
St. Moritz-Bad, Suvretta und der einen
Hälfte des zwei Kilometer entfernten Champfèr – die andere Hälfte von
Champfèr gehört zu Silvaplana. St. Moritz-Dorf (1'822 m)
liegt am steilen Nordufer des St. Moritzersees, St. Moritz-Bad
(1'774 m)
und Champfèr (1'825 m)
auf je einer Ebene westlich des St. Moritzersees.
In südwestlicher Richtung zwischen St. Moritz und Maloja
liegt die Engadiner Seenplatte, die aus dem St. Moritzer-,
Champfèrer-, Silvaplaner- und Silsersee besteht. Die Höhendifferenz vom
St. Moritzersee bis zum 15 Kilometer entfernten Malojapass beträgt nur knapp 50 Meter. Östlich von
St. Moritz liegen der Stazerwald und die Charnadüra-Schlucht, durch die man auf die 50
Meter tiefer gelegene nächste grosse Ebene gelangt, die bis ins 20
Kilometer entfernte S-chanf nur 60 Höhenmeter Gefälle
aufweist.
Der Hausberg, auf dem auch das 23 Anlagen umfassende
Winterskigebiet liegt, heisst Corviglia und Piz Nair (3'057 m)
und liegt nördlich des Dorfes. Etwas unbekannter, aber durch seine
Höhe und Form imposanter, ist der Piz Güglia/Julier (3'380 m).
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