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I love this, proper rules-lawyering and the rules were badly written to give it extra space for internet arguing. Nowhere did they <actually> say that you can only touch the handle. You can only "deliver" by the handle but "re-touching" isn't specifically "delivering". There's a definition of "delivered" but no definition of "delivery"
Course, the guy actually did retouch it after the hog line so it makes no difference, the offence was late re-touching regardless. Not sure if it's the same for the womens'.
They've now released a "clarification" which in reality is a whole new rule saying that you can only ever touch the handle, to fill that gap.
Honestly, they just need some nerds. Give this ruleset to a bunch of Magic The Gathering players and they will hand you back a completely clear ruleset with absolutely no wriggle room. It will take years and also come with it a thousand pages of FAQ and errata, and also from time to time you will find one of your stones has been banned, or they release a new stone that can explode, or someone will realise there's nothing <explicit> in the rules that says you can't beat your opponents to death with a stone.
But they'll be good rules.
The part that surprised me is, technology aside, they didnt have officials watching the delivery, and now this has come to light they have two roving officials watching four games. So not necessarily being watched but you might be. Because they dont have to resources to staff all four rinks.
This is the Olympics, holding on to its amateur roots!
Worse. It was the handle on the top of the stones. And it was caught in video.
I see what you did there:-)
Worse. It was the handle on the top of the stones. And it was caught in video.
It's OK to grasp your handle but you must not touch your stones.
I love this, proper rules-lawyering and the rules were badly written to give it extra space for internet arguing. Nowhere did they <actually> say that you can only touch the handle. You can only "deliver" by the handle but "re-touching" isn't specifically "delivering". There's a definition of "delivered" but no definition of "delivery"
Course, the guy actually did retouch it after the hog line so it makes no difference, the offence was late re-touching regardless. Not sure if it's the same for the womens'.
They've now released a "clarification" which in reality is a whole new rule saying that you can only ever touch the handle, to fill that gap.
Honestly, they just need some nerds. Give this ruleset to a bunch of Magic The Gathering players and they will hand you back a completely clear ruleset with absolutely no wriggle room. It will take years and also come with it a thousand pages of FAQ and errata, and also from time to time you will find one of your stones has been banned, or they release a new stone that can explode, or someone will realise there's nothing <explicit> in the rules that says you can't beat your opponents to death with a stone.
But they'll be good rules.
they already have an “umpires work it out even if it’s not in the rules” rule…
I *think* the issue is some curlers release the handle and extend their index finger and sometimes graze the top of the stone as they retract their hand. That seems to have been accepted practice over the years with nobody objecting to it, because it likely brings no advantage. Then the Canadian guy seems to have taken this to another level by giving the stone a poke. Now they’ve had to provide stricter interpretation but that itself introduces subjectivity/controversy. Given that so much of curling rules are emphasised as being about the spirit of the game I think there should be an option for the opposition team to say “umpire, we are ok with what just happened leave the stone”. Germany seem as confused as GB when Bobby Lammy’s stone was removed. The real issue was not the technique or the touch but the confrontation and language when an alleged infringement happened. We might as well watch football if we want to see grown adults shouting and swearing at each other! I’m not sure Sweden have handled it well either, if indeed they have known this was the Canadian guys technique and they decide to raise it mid match rather than seek clarity on the rules in advance.
Weirdly, given how controversial this seems to be the camera crews don’t seem to be well positioned!
Wowsers 😃 must be difficult to marry up being fastest female but coming fourth & not getting gold when someone slower than you does...
Team GB's aim was to get 4-8 medals. Getting 3 x golds in a weekend is amazing.
It’s not the first time curling has run into difficulty over it’s “ gentleman’s rules “
this is well worth a listen even if you aren’t a curling fan /know much about it……
Broomgate - a curling scandal
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1kXTKfkG4Xe8nl6MoxDMxN
they already have an “umpires work it out even if it’s not in the rules” rule…
I love that the longest section in the entire rulebook is the introductory essay about the Spirit Of The Rules. Like, my dudes, perhaps take some of those words out and put them in the actual rules.
It is fun that you can be at the olympics doing your thing and suddenly it turns out that it's like Monopoly, everyone knows how to play but does anyone actually know the rules?
I love that the longest section in the entire rulebook is the introductory essay about the Spirit Of The Rules
Meanwhile on other bits of ice
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/15/tom-wilson-fight-ice-hockey-olympics-canada
Well yesterday was rather excellent, Nice one Huw & Charlotte for your efforts, and Tabby & Matt too. Today is men's slalom (run 1 from 9am UK time) with Dave Ryding starting at 20, Laurie Taylor at 24 and Billy Major at 28. Fingers crossed at least one gets into the second leg (from 12:30)
Women's Freestle Skiing Big Air tonight from 18:30, featuring Kirsty Muir. I'm not really a fan of Big Air (it's up there with Moguls and Ski Aerials (jump spinny spinny, jump jump spinny spinny spinny) for me) but I shall be watching and hoping nonetheless.
I love that the longest section in the entire rulebook is the introductory essay about the Spirit Of The Rules.
Isn't that the same for pretty much every game that originated in the UK?
It seems so many traditional UK sports rely on 'gentlemanly' behaviour and sticking to the spirit of the rules rather than actually writing the rules down.
It generally works fine as long as it's mostly amateurs playing but as soon as people's livelihoods start depending on the outcome it turns out you can't really rely on gentleman's agreements anymore.
They never should have allowed the working class to play sports. If they've got time to play sports they obviously aren't working hard enough!
Bugger, I completely missed that we'd gone to a second page!
Slalom boys having a torrid time.
Why is Britain oddly good at Skeleton? Seems a weird sport to be the best medal opportunity of the last few games. Is it down to posh folk messing about at expensive Swiss resorts again?
I think there's a centre of excellence at Bath Uni. No slope but.....
Why is Britain oddly good at Skeleton?
Funny you should ask that...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cz6ejev058eo
Slalom boys having a torrid time.
Early starters seem to have had the best of it, the course seems to be really slowing down with the falling snow (assuming the skiier actually finish, there's a LOT of DNFs!) :/
Wowsers 😃 must be difficult to marry up being fastest female but coming fourth & not getting gold when someone slower than you does...
presumably if she was consistently faster during training/trials/testing they’d have put her in the no1 team. It can’t be uncommon on team sports that on the day your particular team selections don’t work out the way you expected on paper. It seems a slightly contrived “team” event anyway - it’s just the sum of individual entries with a slightly different start set up. I assume this has been down to “encourage” countries to focus on developing their female athletes too? In that sense it’s good but would have been nice to see something that felt more like a team - pushing each other?
from the BBC article though it’s possible we are quite good at this because GB are actually a team and sharing and learning from each other - I can imagine some other countries would see their greatest rival as the person in the same colour kit.
@richmtb - I think the answer is simple: take any niche sport which isn’t about having done it since you were 4 yrs old, chuck several million pounds at it for a couple of Olympic “cycles” and we’d stand a good change of getting into or close to the medals. Then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy because UK sport funding is closely linked to medal prospects.
Random question - how would Torville and Dean's 'perfect' performance from Sarajevo be marked now? Essentially I'm asking whether they'd have won this year with the same routine.
Please sir, could anyone answer my question?
Gemini says no - they spent too long on their knees at the start which would probably be a DQ and the lifts and spinny bits would only score 1s in terms of difficulty whereas the current lot are doing more complicated spinny bits that score 4s.
I know Britain got two Golds out of it, but why does every event need a mixed team version?
Mixed doubles curling I understand, that's actually a team, the mixed speed skating relay is too, but people completing separately like Ski Jumping, and Figure skating, Snowboarding and Skeleton?
Who cares "what's needed"... none of these events are "needed"... but it brings the team element into more events... which seems to work for athletes and spectators alike.
Well, who would have thought Curling is such a hotbed of controversy ! More double touching and 'cheating'.
I know Britain got two Golds out of it, but why does every event need a mixed team version?
Mixed doubles curling I understand, that's actually a team, the mixed speed skating relay is too, but people completing separately like Ski Jumping, and Figure skating, Snowboarding and Skeleton?
My assumption is they are trying to encourage national olympic committees / funding bodies to treat womens sport equally? If 2/3 of the available medals require a woman you are more likely to invest in women's sport? (there may be others - like broadcasters who need to be spoon fed the 21st century too). I do completely agree though, that if you are going to invent a sub division of your sport that is a team / pair element then make it so that their cooperation/collaboration on the field of play is essential for success not just adding up a man's score and a woman's score.
It does play well for British sport funding approaches though - we are probably a bit more enlightened on inclusivity than some countries, which means we can quickly get a medals boost from good combined results, and since our funding is all about medals (sadly) that will mean more money for those disciplines.
Oh, I suppose the other thing is it is really easy to drop another day of events on the same track into your programme without extra investment / infrastructure etc, and athlete villages don't need to be much bigger etc. I'm sure some of these will peter out over the next few olympics though if they don't become enough "genuine" difference to end up in world champs, world cups etc. A niche Olympic flavour of your sport is actually a risk.
Loving the Big Air coverage - slo mo shots in the snow look awesome
I know Britain got two Golds out of it, but why does every event need a mixed team version?
Mixed doubles curling I understand, that's actually a team, the mixed speed skating relay is too, but people completing separately like Ski Jumping, and Figure skating, Snowboarding and Skeleton?
Why not? The whole thing is, after all, contrived and artificial… but as others have a said, in an environment where winners are the result of more than just raw talent and ability, it rewards systems where women’s sport is taken properly seriously.
Those monobobs have horrible handling. They remind me of my old Hillman Imp on snow.
I'm developing a strong dislike of the Canadians.
Has the Curling finished yet?
Every time I put the TV on it's bloody Curling......
not even close! The curling started early because it takes that long to fit it in - the medal games will be some of the last events before the closing ceremony.Has the Curling finished yet?
Every time I put the TV on it's bloody Curling......
if you make it to medals you have played 14 matches (more if you are in mixed doubles team too) which is probably over 30 hrs of play. Or about 90hrs of TV for all three categories.
Well I did just accidentally stumble on the final two stones in the women's GBR v USA match with USA leading by 1 point. Go on, have a look.
Is anyone else finding the coverage more chat show than actually showing sport?
Not really. I'm not sure football or cricket are the ideal benchmark for good sports coverage but they both involve lots of punditry sitting around in a studio discussing whats just happened or is about to happen. But I've never had to change channel 3 times to watch a football match!Is anyone else finding the coverage more chat show than actually showing sport?
I've become a little addicted to watching the curling. Not really sure on the rules but the physics and tactics involved are fascinating.
Anyone else afflicted?
Anyone else afflicted?
Loved it since 2006 I think - maybe 2010 Vancouver? We enjoyed it so much we had a works outing to Deeside (the only ice rink in England and Wales offering Curling, back then) to give it a go, and now have even MORE respect. It was hard enough for us to get the stones into "the house" (the scoring circle) much less be able to play a double at an angle or whatever these girls and guys are doing.
Edit - looks like there are now TWO rinks south of Scotland - Preston and Cambridge. Deeside is no longer available, it seems
https://www.curlingengland.com/about/try-curling/
Oh yeah, I bet having played it makes the reality of how difficult it is really sink in. 👍
I'm worried the USA might be doing well in the women's as I'm hearing a lot of cheering for them. We need the Swiss to win of course...
I briefly caught some weird ski mountaineering(?) sprint event this morning - xc ski, then run up stairs, then slalom down. One lap. I imagine multiple laps would be utterly brutal.
Much as I love some of the drone footage, the constant whine of drone motors is doing my head in now.
Do winning athletes still meet the pr*s*d*nt when they come home? I'd like to think that if the US Women's team won, they'd walk out of the Wh*te H**s* if ol' rapey did one of his many photo ops.
Come on Switzerland! Now 6-6. They need a steal now... Not sure what that is but they need it! 😁
Balls! So close.
Ah well, at least the guys are through.
I briefly caught some weird ski mountaineering(?) sprint event this morning - xc ski, then run up stairs, then slalom down. One lap. I imagine multiple laps would be utterly brutal.
Skimo, and yes, it's horrible.
Skimo, and yes, it's horrible.
I have the same opinion of it as I do of speed climbing. One thing it definitely isn't is ski mountaineering.
One of the sports to ditch from the Winter Olympics?
Going to be close for the men's team in the curling from the looks of it. 🤞