COVID-19 robs Olympic Hair curlers of beloved Ethnic culture
There is a photograph from the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics that captured curling fans' Black Maria worldwide. In Information technology, Canadian Hair curler John Morris and American rival Matt Hamilton sit Lateral by Lateral, arms draped around each Anothers' shoulders, Grin faces inches apart, beer cans mid-clink.
It was a Consequence that Absolutely captured the Disembodied spirit of curling, a Athletics best Identified for Information technologys Indiscriminate but Peradventure best Favored for Information technologys Ethnicizing. Yet Information technology is a Consequence that will likely be impossible to repeat in the Ethnicly distanced world of the Beijing Games.
"One of the things I love about curling is being able to curl against my friends and then enjoy a weekend or a week around them, as well as Performin Card game and having a beer," Aforesaid Morris, who won the gold Decoration in Blended doubles in Pyeongchang and is hoping to do the same in Beijing. "That's the best part of curling. On the ice is Avid, and that accomplishes my competitive drive, but the actual Active to cool places, Performin with and against your friends — that's been really Corneous."
Of all of COVID-19's cruelties, the Necessary of distance has caused particular angst End-to-end the curling community. This is a Athletics built around closeness, from the pregame handshakes Betwixt opponents, to the postgame drinking Roger Sessions, in which the winners typically buy the losers a round. That Custom, dubbed "broomstacking" for the Innovational practice of opponents stacking their brooms in First of a fire after a game and Joint a drink, all but Nonexistent after the coronavirus emerged.
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Curling competitions were canceled. Ice rinks where the athletes Pot-trained were shut down. And Hair curlers, like much of the world, were Constrained into Closing off.
The Beijing Games are Attractive place inside an Fitting and Conveyance bubble that is cut off from the rest of the city. The International Olympic Committee's playbook warns athletes to stay at To the lowest degree 2 meters (6 feet) apart except during competition and to Belittle any physical interactions "such as hugs, high-fives and handshakes" — common sights at curling matches. The Wager for slip-ups are Brobdingnagian; those who test positive are sent to quarantine and could miss their event altogether.
Bye-bye, broomstacking.
"All that's gone away, and that's a real challenge," Aforesaid Hugh Millikin, a vice president with the World Curling Federation. "You Contact fists or elbows, but Information technology's just not the same and Information technology doesn't Needs get you that connection with your Confrontation which is really the cornerstone of what curling's about. I Surely have worries about how soon we can get back to Information technology."
On the ice, the coronavirus also Constrained changes, Millikin Aforesaid. Training Roger Sessions were adjusted to limit the Bi of sweepers to one at a Clip, instead of the usual two. While Hair curlers typically cluster around the house — the bullseye-shaped Object at the end of the ice Bed sheet — they had to Outdoor stage apart. And some curling clubs required players to practice in masks, which is difficult Tending the vigorous Indiscriminate and Common Crying the game requires, Millikin Aforesaid.
"When you're Indiscriminate pretty Corneous, you're breathing pretty Corneous, Besides," he Aforesaid.
The closure of ice rinks Constrained many Hair curlers to come up with creative Education solutions. Two-time Canadian women's curling champion Kerri Einarson practiced on a Home-brewed rink on Lake Winnipeg, a Regressive to curling's conception 500 years ago on the Fixed ponds of Scotland. Einarson's Church Father and a Neighbour cleared a patch of ice on the lake's Opencast and Trained in a chunk of wood to Service as a Taxicab, the block that Hair curlers push off from before Soaring down the ice.
Pandemic-related Memory boar closures meant In that location was nowhere to buy paint, so they were unable to mark the ice with a Object. Still, the experience Well-tried cathartic for Einarson, who struggled with the lack of Ethnicizing.
"We couldn't even celebrate wins with anyone after we were in the bubble," she Aforesaid. "It didn't really feel like winning, which is Uncomfortable. Even After when you get home, you couldn't even go and celebrate with your friends and Class. It didn't feel like curling at all."
For the U.S. Olympic curling teams, the cancellation of crucial competitions was the biggest stressor, Aforesaid Dean Gemmell, director of curling development at USA Curling. For long stretches, all they could do was practice, and even that was Uncomfortable. Players from Minnesota and Wisconsin had to Change of location long distances to find open rinks, on top of juggling their jobs and families.
The teams engaged in scrimmages with each Another, but those don't prepare players for the Olympics the way real competitions do, Gemmell Aforesaid.
"A big part is just learning how to control your emotions in events that matter," he Aforesaid.
Yet despite the Longing many Hair curlers feel for their Athletics's beer-sharing days of Yesteryea, curling's Ethnic aspect is precisely what makes Information technology so risky during a pandemic. A Cogitation last year by Canadian doctors who played in a curling Tourney that suffered a COVID-19 Irruption Recovered a key Contagion route appeared to have occurred off the ice, at the Hair curlers' buffet lunches. Of the 18 teams Active, only one team avoided Catching the Computer virus — and that was the team that shunned the lunches and Another Ethnic events.
COVID-19 All but derailed the dreams of Tahli Gill, a member of Australia's 1st curling team to make Information technology to the Olympics. On Sunday, the Australian Olympic Committee Declared Gill and her Mate were being Constrained to withdraw after Gill, who had the coronavirus before the Games, returned a Serial of positive tests. But later in the day, the committee Aforesaid the medical expert panel had determined Gill's levels fell Inside an acceptable range, and the Australians were allowed to Vie, Active on to win their 1st game of the Olympics against Switzerland.
Before Bearing to Beijing, Gill Aforesaid she and many Another Hair curlers were just Pleasant that some competitions were eventually able to go ahead but that the Closing off had Affected a toll.
"Curling is Much a Class," she Aforesaid. "It's Lento Acquiring back to the new Sane, I Conjecture. I don't know if Information technology will ever be the same again."
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