The curling competition of the 2010 Olympics was held at

Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre The Hillcrest Centre is a community centre with ice hockey and curling rinks, and an aquatics facility, located at Hillcrest Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Construction started in March 2007; it hosted the 2009 World Junior Curling ...

in Vancouver. It is the fifth time that

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

was on the Olympic program, after having been staged in 1924,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, 2002 and 2006. For the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gret ...

the competition followed the same format that was used during the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, with 10 teams playing a

round robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & C. Me ...

, from which the top four teams advance to the semi-finals. The women's competition concluded on Friday, February 26, 2010. In the bronze medal match, the Chinese team made history by becoming the first team from Asia to win an Olympic curling medal. The gold medal match was one of the closest medal games in Olympic competition. Team Canada won the silver medal, their best performance since the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games when

Sandra Schmirler Sandra Marie Schmirler, (June 11, 1963 – March 2, 2000) was a Canadian curler who captured three Canadian Curling Championships (Scott Tournament of Hearts) and three World Curling Championships. Schmirler also skipped (captained) her Cana ...

skipped the Canadians to gold. Team Sweden won the gold medal. Anette Norberg, Eva Lund, Cathrine Lindahl, and Anna Le Moine (née Anna Bergström nna Svärd in Torino became the first curlers to win two gold medals at the Olympic Games. The men's competition concluded on Saturday, February 27, 2010. In the bronze medal match, Markus Eggler of Switzerland became the first male curler to win two Olympic medals. The gold medal final was a rematch between Canada and Norway of the 2002 Olympics men's final (although only one athlete from each team participated in both finals). The only disturbance was when an unsportsmanlike spectator deliberately blew a horn while the Norwegians were delivering their stones. The crowd promptly booed the man and the horn was not blown again until the medal ceremony. The Canadians controlled the game throughout and never relinquished the lead. Torger Nergård and Kevin Martin became the second and third men to win two Olympic medals. With the conclusion of the Vancouver Olympic curling tournament, eight athletes now have two Olympic curling medals. They are in the order in which they received their medals: Mirjam Ott (SUI), Markus Eggler (SUI), Kevin Martin (CAN), Torger Nergård (NOR), Anette Norberg, Eva Lund, Cathrine Lindahl, and Anna Le Moine, all of Sweden.

Medal summary

Medal table

Events

Qualified teams

Men's

''*Throws third rocks''
''**Throws second rocks''

Women's

''*Throws second rocks'' ''**The World Curling Federation had

Olga Jarkova Olga Nikolayevna Jarkova (russian: Óльга Никола́евна Жарко́ва; born January 11, 1979, in Moscow, Soviet Union, USSR) is a Russian curling, curler. She has represented Russia twice at the Winter Olympic Games, Winter Olymp ...

listed as the Third. However, a press release by the Vancouver Organizing Committee has Anna Sidorova listed as Third.'' ''***On Feb 21, 2010,

Debbie McCormick Deborah McCormick ( Henry, born January 8, 1974) is an American curler from Rio, Wisconsin. Although born in Canada, McCormick moved to Madison, Wisconsin when she was very young. McCormick is a World Champion and four-time Olympian. Career ...

switched to throwing third, with

Allison Pottinger Allison Pottinger ( Darragh, born July 5, 1973) is an American curler from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. She is best known as having played for Debbie McCormick in multiple Olympics and World Championships. McCormick left the team in 2010. She comp ...

throwing fourth.''

Qualification

Performances at the 2007, 2008 and 2009

World Curling Championships The World Curling Championships are the annual world championships for curling, organized by the World Curling Federation and contested by national championship teams. There are men's, women's and mixed doubles championships, as well as men's a ...

decided which countries were able to send curling teams to the 2010 Olympics. Points were distributed in the following manner, with the top 9 teams (excluding - Canada) qualifying for the Olympics. In case of a tie during the 2007 World championships, the points were split (for example, if two teams tied for tenth place, they would receive 2.5 points). For the 2008 and 2009 championships, such ties were broken according to head-to-head matchups, and if necessary, by the draw shot challenge. Canada, as the host nation, qualified automatically. Scotland's points counted as Great Britain (Scotland does not compete at the Olympic level separately).

Men's standings

*Scotland, England and Wales all compete separately in international curling. By an agreement between the curling federations of those three home nations, only Scotland can score Olympic qualification points for Great Britain.

Women's standings

Olympic curling trials

2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials The 2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials were held December 6–13, 2009 at Rexall Place in Edmonton. The event is also known and advertised as ''Roar of the Rings''. The winner of the men's and women's events represented Canada at the 2010 Winte ...

* 2010 United States Olympic Curling Trials * 2009 Swiss Olympic Curling Trials

Men's tournament

Women's tournament

References

External links

Vancouver 2010 official website

World Curling Federation's official websiteOlympic Games Qualification standingsQualification SystemOlympic Curling Competition Draw Schedule AP Winter Games Video Essay: The Mysteries of CurlingAP Winter Games: Curling
{{Curling at the Winter Olympics 2010 in Canadian curling

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

2010 Winter Olympics events 2010 Curling in British Columbia International curling competitions hosted by Canada