History of curling

Curling became known to the general public not so long ago. It happened due to its recognition in 1998 as an Olympic sport. Since that year it was included in the program of the Winter Olympic Games.
It is known for sure that curling is native to Scotland. Researchers believe that a game similar to curling could have appeared in the 16th century. Confirming the fact was the discovery at the bottom of dried-up reservoir stone, similar to the one that is played in curling. On the found stone was carved date – 1511. In the annals curling is mentioned in 1541, when the monk John Sklater challenged the representative of the Abbey Gavin Hamilton to a curling match.

At the same time, in the Netherlands, peasants were playing a very similar game to curling called “icestock”. Curling quickly caught on there because the Dutch had very close economic and cultural ties with Scotland.
In 1737 the first Curling Club began operating in Scotland. Around the same time, they built on a frozen pond the prototype of the first court for this game. Initially, ordinary stones of the right size were chosen for curling.

The word “curling” itself means “the game of roaring stones”. Apparently, it is associated with the sound made by uneven stones moving on the icy surface. That is why at the initial stage of curling the victory of the competing teams depended not on sports skills and proficiency, but on trivial luck. Beginning in the 17th century, the stones began to be brought to a single standard.

At the beginning of the 19th century in Scotland were invented and approved the official rules of curling. Since then and up to the present time no major changes were made to them. Competing teams consist of four players. Each of them in a certain sequence makes in turn with an opponent two stone throws in one end. There are a total of 10 endings in the game. The point of each throw is to push your opponent’s stone out of the house and place your own there. For each stone that is closer to the center of the house than any of the opponent’s projectiles, for its location inside the house or for a stone that touches its perimeter, the team is awarded 1 point. The team with the most points wins.

The curling equipment consists of stones made of granite, a brush to rub the surface of the ice in front of the moving stone, and a special shoe slider to improve sliding on the ice surface.

The first curling association was founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1838. Its task was to bring curling equipment and rules to the same parameters.

The first World Curling Championship among men’s teams was held in 1959, and 20 years later among women’s teams. Since 1975 the annual World Championships were held. In 1998 curling made its official debut as an Olympic sport at the Nagano Olympic Games in Japan. All international competitions take place indoors, with careful control of the temperature inside.