WebProNews

Tag: Curling

  • Eve Muirhead And GB Curling Team Go For The Gold

    Since watching Rhona Martin win gold for Great Britain in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, Eve Muirhead has vowed to do the same in the sport.

    At just 12 years old, Muirhead knew winning the gold in curling was what she wanted to do. “From that moment, it was what I wanted to do. I wanted to be like Rhona and win an Olympic gold medal,” said Martin.

    Muirhead had joined the sport of curling when she was nine years old and by the age of 19 she had already won three World Junior Championships. Her dreams of Olympic gold were closer to reality when she was chosen to skip for Great Britain’s curling team in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Sadly, the team didn’t make it out of the group stages.

    While curling runs in Muirhead’s blood – her father and two brothers also participate(d) in the sport – she is also a talented golfer. “With golf, it’s tough to make it to the top. I knew from a young age that I had good opportunities to do well in curling,” said Muirhead.

    Now it is 2014 and Muirhead is again on Great Britain’s Olympic curling team, this time in Sochi. In an amazing twist of fate for Muirhead, Rhona Martin is the coach of Great Britain’s curling team. The team is a bit different from when Martin played the sport. While Martin was a 36-year-old housewife raising two kids, Muirhead and her teammates Vicki Adams, Claire Hamilton and Anna Sloan are all full-time professionals in their 20s, spending their time at the gym, with nutritionists and psychologists.

    These young faces may be helping to change the way people look at curling. Said Muirhead, “A lot of people look at curling and think it’s a sport for the older generation, but that’s not the case and hopefully a lot more young people can get involved.”

    One of Muirhead’s former teammates, Jackie Lockhart, believes Great Britain’s curling team has a good chance in Sochi. “Eve has grown up massively over the last four years. She’s still only 23 but she’s very professional on the ice. She is a fiery character who will crucify herself if she doesn’t make a shot 100 percent, and she can’t allow that to happen in the semi-final. She has got to be focused and she is not afraid to make the big shots, which is what will worry Canada skip Jennifer Jones,” said Lockhart.

    Great Britain competed against Canada on Wednesday. Canada beat Muirhead and her team 6-4, leaving Great Britain to compete for the bronze medal against Switzerland on Thursday.

    Image via YouTube.

  • See Who Wins The Gold Medal In Curling With Bing

    The Winter Olympics are quickly approaching and those who understand what’s good in life are excited to see curling make its triumphant return to television after a four year hiatus. Your life is busy though and you just can’t keep track of all the curling goodness like you used to. That’s where Bing comes in.

    Bing announced this afternoon that it wants to be your go to stop for all things Winter Olympics this year. With just a simple search, you’ll be able to keep track of the event schedule, who’s competing and more.

    First up, Bing will show you the event schedule for each sport by simply searching for said sport. For example, a simple search for Curling brings up the first day’s schedule of events with the Russian and Great Britain men’s curling team facing off at 12:00 a.m. ET.

    See Who Wins The Gold Medal In Curling With Bing

    Now then, if you’re interests lie more with the athletes than the sport itself, Bing has you covered as well. Say, for instance, you want to keep track of John Shuster – the U.S. Men’s Curling Team Captain. A quick search on Bing will bring up his biography and a Timeline of his accomplishments:

    See Who Wins The Gold Medal In Curling With Bing

    Finally, Bing will be keeping track of which countries are winning the most medals throughout the game. Simply search for “olympics medal tally” and you’ll be given a little graphic with a list of countries and how many medals they’ve won. As you might expect, the graphic isn’t live just yet, but here’s a preview of what it will look like:

    See Who Wins The Gold Medal In Curling With Bing

    If you happen to like one of those other sports, like snowboarding or cross-country skiing, you’ll be able to track them and their athletes just fine via Bing as well.

    Image via olympicvancouver2010/YouTube

  • Jennifer Jones, Canadian Curling Team Head to Sochi

    Canadian curling star Jennifer Jones spoke to the media after her team’s match against Norway at the Continental Cup on Sunday.

    Jones and the rest of the curling team are headed to Russia next month to participate in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, which are being held in Sochi.

    Jones and her coach, Brad Jacobs, both commented on the Canadian team’s seemingly successful preparation for the Games.

    Jacobs’ team played in a match against Norway at the Continental Cup this weekend, giving them a chance to prepare to fight for a win when they are matched against Norway.

    Thomas Ulsrud, who captured the silver medal for the Norwegian curling team in 2010, said that the Canadian team were difficult opponents, but are going to have to “work for” a win in Sochi.

    Upon the end of the match, Jones confidently said, “We couldn’t have asked for more or for it [the week] to go any better. We just feel real good with the ice and how we’re playing heading into Sochi.”

    Jacobs discussed the strategy of focusing on Canada’s own curlers, rather than worrying about what their opponents were doing, saying, “We’ve played them before, We focus on our game. Everyone’s throwing the rock well right now, that’s the main thing for our team. I really like what I see as skip from the other end. It’s really nice to be here, playing on this great ice surface in really serious competition that everyone’s trying their hearts out at.”

    In an attempt to prepare for the Games, the ice of the Sochi arena was mimicked at the Cup; Hans Wuthrich, the ice-maker for the 2014 Games, also prepared the surface at the Continental Cup.

    The Continental Cup consists of matches in traditional curling, mixed doubles, singles, and skins play, pitting six North American teams against six other World teams, according to The Canadian Press.

    The 2014 Olympic Winter Games will begin February 7 and last through February 23 in Sochi, Russia.

    Main image courtesy @CCACurling via Twitter.