How Curling Became the Winter Olympics’ Favorite Fixation

It’s similar clockwork. Every 4 years, a full caller coterie finds itself unexpectedly enamored with curling. It’s casual to spot why. There’s an constituent of competence porn to watching passionate athletes masterfully bash thing that to the remainder of the satellite astir apt looks similar bocce connected ice. The precision of the chromatic throw, the cautious sweeping. It’s transfixing. As the 2026 Winter Olympics statesman successful Italy, viewers are entranced.

But arsenic audiences settee successful to larn each astir the game’s modern iteration and each the gadgets that travel with it, attraction should beryllium paid to the curlers of yore—and what their crippled tells america astir however the Earth’s clime utilized to be.

The archetypal written grounds of curling dates backmost to 1540. A notary successful Paisley, Scotland, named John McQuhin wrote a grounds successful Latin astir a situation betwixt John Sclater, a monk astatine Paisley Abbey, and Gavin Hamilton, the abbot's representative. It’s said that Sclater threw a chromatic 3 times connected the aboveground of a frozen water and agreed to the contest. There’s nary grounds of whether oregon not anyone won this challenge, but it was agreed that moving stones on frozen bodies of h2o was a bully time.

Often called “the roaring game” due to the fact that of the sounds stones marque connected the ice, curling became fashionable successful bluish Europe, specifically Scotland, due to the fact that of the particularly harsh winters of 400-plus years ago. Flemish creator Pieter Bruegel the Elder featured peasants watching a crippled that looks similar curing successful 2 paintings successful 1565 and 1566. The connection “curling”—born from the curl, oregon curved trajectory, of stones during the game—first emerged successful 1620 successful the verses of a poem by Henry Adamson.

Formed successful 1716, the Kilsyth Curling Club, from the Scottish municipality of aforesaid name, is wide considered the world’s archetypal authoritative curling club. (It’s inactive progressive today.) The Royal Caledonian Curling Club, founded successful 1838, archetypal formalized the rules of the game, according to the International Olympic Committee. From that nine grew the World Curling Federation, which is based successful the Scottish municipality of Perth and remains progressive to this day.

Early on, the stones utilized successful the athletics were virtually that: boulders that had been flattened and shaped. There were nary requirements for size oregon handles. Some conscionable had holes, akin to a bowling ball. The crude stones meant throwers mostly relied connected luck alternatively than accomplishment oregon technique.

Over the years, the athletics has introduced acold much rules and regulations, immoderate precise complex, erstwhile it comes to the value and signifier of the stones. Same goes for the size of the transportation and the operation of matches. Today it is the skip, oregon squad leader, who shouts retired instructions to the throwers connected their curls, strength, and trajectories. The skip does the aforesaid for the sweepers who “sweep” the aboveground successful beforehand of the chromatic to marque it slide.

Scots are besides liable for the dispersed of curling worldwide. Immigrants from Scotland brought their passionateness for the athletics to North America, particularly Canada, wherever it is inactive wildly popular.

Curling made its Olympics debut successful 1924 astatine the Winter Games successful Chamonix, France. At the time, it was conscionable a objection sport. It wasn’t until 1998, during the Games successful Nagano, Japan, that it became an authoritative Olympic sport. To date, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway person distinguished themselves arsenic curling competitors astatine the Games.

While the athletics was paving its mode to an authoritative Olympic sport, it besides made inroads successful fashionable culture. The Beatles effort to play successful their 1965 movie Help! The crippled besides makes an quality successful the 1969 James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

In the aboriginal 2000s, arsenic 24-hour sum and DVRs became commonplace successful Olympics-watching, the athletics developed a cultlike following. People who could present ticker events astatine times convenient for their clip portion recovered they could tune successful and get mislaid successful the sport’s fascinating dynamic for hours. For the 2026 Winter Games, the sum continues—every chromatic and each sweep.