By Rob Boulet
In much the same way as hockey, the sport of curling is intimately woven into the fabric of the Canadian psyche and way of life.Indeed, in communities across this great nation from Corner Brook, Newfoundland to Duncan, British Columbia to Inuvik, Northwest Territories the local curling rink is a hub of activity where friends and neighbours in large numbers come to socialize and engage in friendly competition.
That said, there exists within the Canadian curling establishment a large elite cadre of teams, spawned from within the ranks of these ubiquitous rinks, that routinely compete amongst themselves at both the national level and against the best curlers on the international stage.
However, perhaps more so than any other sport that will be represented at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, curling fosters a much more personal relationship between its elite practitioners and their fans.
The reasons for this are many, with one of the primary being economic. Specifically, tournament purses are not of sufficient size to allow curlers to make a living solely on income from this source. You will therefore not find any millionaires living in gated communities amongst this group. They, like their fans, must by necessity hold down regular day jobs to support themselves and their families.
By way of examples, the very best of Canada's curling elite include accountants, dieticians, IT specialists, business owners, lawyers and firefighters. One young skip (Jason Gunnlaugson from Manitoba who participated in the final Vancouver 2010 Olympic qualifying tournament in Edmonton) lists his occupation as "poker player." Fans can therefore not only relate to this lifestyle but may in fact work alongside these athletes as peers in the same company or organization or meet them in the local supermarket picking up milk and bread.
Another factor that tends to create greater fan familiarity with, and respect for, elite curlers and their skill is that they all compete at their sport within the same curling venues, albeit on different sheets of ice and in different leagues. A notoriously sociable lot, most curlers of all skill levels also routinely enjoy post game get-togethers over a drink or two in the curling rink lounge. Further, many of these Olympic calibre curlers are active members of their home curling clubs and are just as likely to be seen selling 50/50 tickets for charity events or bringing a pot luck meal to a club social.
A further important linkage between elite curlers and their fans is that the curlers are now routinely outfitted with microphones during major televised tournaments. This enables the viewing audience to compare how they may have approached a certain shot in any given end by hearing how elite curlers assess their options and ultimately select their preferred shot. For most fans this is an extremely fascinating innovation as curling in many respects is like a game of chess, with each opponent planning not only their present shot but thinking two and three shots ahead. By listening to the thought processes of the skip and discussions amongst team members it allows fans to significantly improve their own strategic and tactical skills — all from the comfort of their easy chairs.
Consistent with other major curling tournaments, Roar of the Rings fans converged on Edmonton from all regions of the country. Many of those attending specifically planned their vacation around this event as a way of satisfying their passion for watching world class curling.
This was certainly the case with sisters Sharon McDonnell of Medicine Hat, AB and Susan Phillips of Neepawa, Man who arranged to meet mutual friend Elayne Bonnell of Ottawa, ON at the tournament. In Sharon's words: "Curling fans are really a wonderful community of friends who share a real passion for the game. We enjoy traveling to different events and invariably run into others that we have met in the past. We also look forward to each of these tournaments as opportunities to collect and trade curling pins which we love to do."
In addition to attending events as spectators, curling fans have traditionally given generously of their time to work as volunteers. In a testament to their loyalty approximately 90 per cent of the 965 volunteers supporting the 2009 Roar of the Rings are returning volunteers that worked at the 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championships also held in Edmonton.
Representative of this dedication to volunteer was the presence of Garry Crocker and Penney Gibbons who both took two week's vacation from the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary to visit family in the area and work the event as security staff.
"We both love the game of curling and took this as an ideal opportunity to enjoy the experience and make new friends," said Garry.
The History of Curling as an Olympic Sport
Having been featured four times as a men's Olympic demonstration sport — 1924 (Chamonix, France), 1932 (Lake Placid, US), 1988 (Calgary, Canada) and 1992 (Albertville, France) — and twice for women in 1988 and 1992, curling was officially recognized for the first time as a full medal sport at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. A perpetual powerhouse on the world curling stage, Canada has compiled an enviable resume of Olympic medal success. At the Nagano Olympics, Canada's Sandra Schmirler rink won gold and Mike Harris won silver. Subsequent Canadian Olympic successes include Kevin Martin winning gold and Kelley Law taking the bronze at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, and most previously, the Brad Gushue foursome taking the gold and Shannon Kleibrink capturing bronze at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Vancouver 2010 Olympic Qualifiers
All Winter Olympic hopeful countries must first be part of the 45-member World Curling Federation. Of that total, however, only 10 countries are selected to participate in both the men's and women's events. As the host nation, Canada was automatically given a berth in the competition while the remaining nine berths in each were based on their performances in the previous three world championships (note: Canada would have qualified first in both competitions according to this criteria even if it were not the host nation). The final slate of competitor countries for Vancouver 2010 by ranking are as follows:
Men – Canada, Scotland, United States, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, France, Denmark, China and Sweden.
Women – Canada, China, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Scotland, Germany, Russia and Japan.
Canadian Representative Qualifying Process
Given the tremendous depth of curling talent in Canada, it was decided by the Canadian Curling Association (CCA) before the 2006-07 curling season that Canada's two Vancouver 2010 representative teams would be determined over a three-season period to reward consistent high level performance It was also designed to preclude situations whereby an exceptional rink could potentially be disqualified by sub-par performance(s) in one or a small number of tournaments. This extended qualifying process was officially dubbed the Roar of the Rings Canadian Curling Trials qualifying system which culminated in one final tournament held Dec. 6 to 13, 2009 in Edmonton, AB for the top eight ranked teams of both genders.
Under this qualifying system, four men's and four women's teams gained direct entry into the Edmonton tournament based on victories in major championships, including the Canadian Brier, Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Canada Cup, Players' and World Championships, as well as topping the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) which took into account performances in both the major contests as well as a large number of smaller tournaments played over the three-year qualifying period. The remaining four teams qualified for the Roar of the Rings playdowns by virtue of advancing from a Road to the Roar of the Rings tournament held in Prince George, British Columbia earlier in December.
While this system may seem overly cumbersome and drawn out to some, Graham Prouse (Chair, CCA Board of Governors), said that, "In the relatively short time since curling became an Olympic medal sport, the level of dedication necessary to compete at curling's elite level has increased dramatically and the pursuit of excellence has become a year-round, years-long commitment."
Roar of the Rings Tournament
Just as it was intended by the CCA, the qualifying system for entry to the Roar of the Rings allowed the cream of Canada's curling establishment to rise to the top. Indeed, the field incredibly included seven separate skips (five men, two women) that could lay claim to have been past world champions. Further, both the men's and women's teams included members with a plethora of Brier, Scotties and other international tournament victories and experience. Not one to exaggerate, Russ Howard (member of Brad Gushue's 2006 Olympic gold medal team and winning skip of two world championships) emphatically put his exclamation point on the superb calibre of the field by saying, "Hands down, the average quality of the teams in this tournament far exceed that which we will see in Vancouver."
As for tournament results themselves, the advance billing lived up to all the hype as the curlers put on a tremendous display of precise shot-making throughout the week. Importantly, the decision of the CCA to employ the three-year qualifying process was validated in spades as the men's final pitted Kevin Martin's first seeded team against Glenn Howard's second seeded foursome while on the women's side, second seeded Shannon Kleibrink's team battled against third seeded Cheryl Bernard's rink.
The final results were Martin 7 – 3 over Howard and Bernard 7 – 6 over Kleibrink.
The attendance at Edmonton's Rexall Place was 175,852 for 20 draws which surpassed the previous record of 159,235 for the 2005 Olympic trials held in Halifax in 2005.
