As the footsteps of the Beijing Winter Olympics draw closer, the attention of the Chinese people has begun to focus on the three winter Olympic areas of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. The Beijing Winter Olympics have a total of 7 major events, 15 sub-events and 109 minor events, both the number of competitions and the number of gold medals produced are the largest and largest in the previous Winter Olympic Games.
So, who will make the first splash at the Beijing Winter Olympics? The answer: curling.
Curling will start on February 2, and it will be the only event scheduled for the day. Curling is not only the first event, but it will also end on the last day, February 20, with a 19-day competition time, which is the longest competition.
2018 Chinese mixed doubles curlers Wang Rui and Bade Xin
The first to take to the ice rink on February 2 was the curling mixed doubles event, a new sport established at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in four years. Why is it that in the atmosphere of the Olympic family, which has been advocating the "weight loss" of the competition project for more than a decade, curling has added a hybrid project? This is related to the second of the three principles that the International Olympic Committee has been advocating in recent years, which are: 1. Streamline the organization of the games; 2. Balance between men and women; and 3. Pay attention to the projects that young people like.
It is in this context that mixed doubles curling first entered the competition sequence of the Winter Olympics four years ago, and the men's curling and women's curling that became official competitions at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics constitute three of the major curling events.
This feature has led to some new changes in the rules of competition between the curling mixed doubles event and the men's and women's curling events.
Both men and women curlers play in teams of 4, with each team taking turns throwing the ball. Each game was divided into 10 innings, plus 38 minutes of thinking time for each team to take about 3 hours. Each team consists of 5 (1 substitute) player, usually thrown in the order of first baseman, second baseman, third baseman and fourth baseman. Each team takes turns throwing 8 curling, and each team can throw 2 curling per round and 1 curling per round. After 16 curling attempts, the game was over.
The curling mixed double consists of 1 male and 1 female athlete, with no substitute athletes. In each round, each team has a total of 6 curlers, one of which is placed in advance according to the technical and tactical arrangements of the team members before the start of the game, and the remaining 5 curlers are thrown. One player throws the first and fifth curling in each inning, and the other player throws the second, third, or fourth curling. In another game, the throwing order of the two can be changed. The first four curling innings are not allowed to be hit, whether it is the opponent's or the own curling, starting with the fifth curling.
It can be seen that the changes in the rules of the curling mixed doubles event that only entered the Winter Olympics in the last year are more suitable for the tastes of young people now, that is, the pace of the game is fast, the change is more varied, and the accident is enhanced, so that the competition process is more exciting, and the result of the game is more likely to be dramatically reversed.
Therefore, it is not unreasonable for the Beijing Winter Olympics to take the water bottle mixed doubles project as a pioneer and open the curtain of the competition.