Olympic Curling

Two curling events are held at each Winter Olympics, one men's and one women's. The sport is fairly new, joining the official program at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Curling is an ice sport, similar to shuffleboard, in which a team of four members throw "rocks" towards a target. Points are awarded to the team whose rocks are closest to the center of the target, known as the button, and closer to the button than the rocks of other the other team.http://www.nbcolympics.com/curling/insidethissport/index.html

Each event features 10 teams as determined by the outcome of the World Curling Championships prior to each Olympics. The teams play in a round robin preliminary set of games, with the top teams advancing to the medal round. Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the top three teams in both the men's and women's events.http://www.nbcolympics.com/curling/insidethissport/index.html

At the 2010 Winter Olympics, curling was held at the Vancouver Olympic Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Both tournaments began on February 16, 2010, with the women's gold medal match on February 26 and the men's gold medal match on February 27.http://www.nbcolympics.com/curling/resultsandschedules/index.html Sweden won the gold on the women's side, defeating Canada. Canada however won the men's tournament, defeating Norway in the gold medal game, with Switzerland winning the bronze.

Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States sent both men's and women's teams to compete. Additionally, men's teams included squads from France and Norway and women's teams include Japan and Russia. Canada, who was favored in both events, took home the gold medal in the men's tournament in 2006, while Sweden took home gold in the women's.http://www.nbcolympics.com/curling/teams/men.html http://www.nbcolympics.com/curling/teams/women.html

Men's curling was first held at the 1924 Olympics, however the results were not officially recognized until 2006. The sport appeared again in 1932, 1998 and 1992 as exhibition events, then added to the program, in both men's and women's editions, in 1998.http://www.nbcolympics.com/curling/insidethissport/history/newsid=258474.html#curling+history

Canada has the total medal lead in curling, taking home six medals, including both men's and women's medals in 1998, 2002 and 2006. Switzerland also has seen success in Olympic curling, winning a total of four medals. The United States has brought home a single medal, bronze in the men's event in 2006.http://www.nbcolympics.com/curling/insidethissport/medalists/men/newsid=387071.html#mens+curling+medalists