On February 2, in the first round of the mixed doubles round robin tournament at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese duo Of Fan Suyuan/Ling Zhi defeated the Swiss duo of Pere/Rios to open the door for the Chinese delegation. On February 3, in the second round of the Mixed Doubles Round Robin Tournament at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese duo Fan Suyuan /Ling Zhi defeated the Australian duo 6-5 to win two consecutive wins!
Speaking of curling, the sport of curling, has a history of 500 years, but it is the most "young" project in the 7 major events of the Winter Olympics; the curling made is exquisitely expensive, and the shoes worn are different on the left and right feet; the brain-burning art known as "chess on ice", when the competition, only to see athletes waving brushes to frantically "wipe the floor" and shout.
Famous painting artifacts tell the story of 16th-century curling
Curling already appeared in the 1565 Painting of the Snow Hunter by the Belgian flamboyant painter Peter Bruegel Sr. The curling in the painting is very similar to modern curling utensils, and the prototype base and slender handle are clearly visible.
The world's earliest known curling came from Scotland. Found in a dry pond in Dubrian, the stone is slightly square and distinctly polished, with a groove for gripping on one side, equivalent to the handle of a modern curling pot, and the surface is engraved with the name of 1511 and the owner.
Curling has appeared in the Olympic arena five times as a performance sport of the Winter Olympic Games, but it was not officially included in the Winter Olympic games until 1998.
Hand-made For more than 10,000 yuan per piece
Curling has special requirements for the material, one is to require it to be hard enough, and the other is to require it not to rupture due to impact under low temperature conditions. The world's finest rough curling comes from two places, the island of El Sacreg in Scotland and North Wales. Their granite grains are fine and mica-free, and curling made from this unique granite has three times the impact resistance of the average granite.
In the process of curling, it is necessary to rely on the experience and feel of the workers, relying on the perfect cooperation of eyes and hands
In terms of processing, there are only three companies in the world that can produce high-quality curling, namely The Scottish Case Company, which has exclusive mining rights to El Sacreg Island, the Canadian Curling Stone Company, which can produce curling from Trevor Granite in North Wales, and Thompson, which uses special curling manufacturing and refurbishment technology.
The company that supplied curling for the Beijing Winter Olympics was Scotland's Case, which produced more than 190 curling and then selected 96 to arrive in China by the end of 2021. Curling used in international competitions costs about 12,000 yuan each, and a set of fine curling (16 curling) costs almost 180,000 yuan.
In addition to curling itself, curling sports also have special requirements for shoes. Only from the appearance, curling sneakers are not significantly different from ordinary shoes, but in fact, the functions of left and right foot shoes are different, one is a sliding shoe, the other is a pedal skate. The bottom of the sneaker responsible for the sliding function is a plastic sole and a special skateboard, and the bottom of the sneaker responsible for the ice pedal function is a rubber sole, so that the athlete can smoothly switch between sliding and braking.
2.5 hours of "Chess on Ice"
A traditional curling game with 10 innings takes 2.5 hours to add "tactical thinking" time, making curling the longest-running event at the Winter Olympics. Although physical support is also required during throwing and wiping ice, mental energy consumption is still the first. The curling field, also known as the "chessboard", is usually a long strip of ice 45 to 46 meters long and 4.4 to 5 meters wide, with a circular area at each end of the track, with home base at one end and camp at the other end. The two teams take turns to throw the pot, and the athletes must not only make their own curling accurately reach the center of the camp, but also keep the opponent's curling away from the center of the circle, and the curling distance from the center of the circle determines the victory or defeat.
Mixed doubles matches are relatively fast-paced, with 2 players per team and a total of 8 innings. Each team has 22 minutes of thinking time in each game. In each round, each team throws 5 curling pots, one is placed before the game starts, the player who throws the first pot must throw the last pot, and the other team member throws the second, third and fourth pots. 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.
Unlike many people imagine, the ice surface of the curling track is not smooth, but there are small water droplets sprayed on the ice, which is like paving a cobblestone road, making the curling walking route uncertain.
That's why the curling spectators will be impressed by the frantic "wiping" of the athletes in front of the curling with a "broom". The appropriate "ice brushing" of athletes can melt the uneven ice surface, transform the ice into a thin layer of water, reduce the friction between the pot body and the ice surface, and thus go further.
In the course of the race, you can often hear the shouts of the participants, after all, in the track of more than 40 meters, the most direct way to communicate with teammates is to roar, and in the long game, the war roar also has the effect of refreshing the mind and cheering up.
Source: CCTV news client