Days before the 2006 Winter Games began, the
IOC confirmed that the
curling competition at the
1924 Winter Olympics was an official event, and not a demonstration event as many authoritative sources had previously claimed. However, the IOC itself had never done so. This official confirmation was the culmination of an investigative campaign begun by the
Glasgow-based newspaper
The Herald on behalf of the families of the eight
Scots who won the first curling Olympic gold medal in
Chamonix,
France in 1924. The winning team was selected by the
Royal Caledonian Curling Club,
Perth, the mother club of curling. Defending champion skips
Rhona Martin of Great Britain & Northern Ireland and
Pål Trulsen of Norway returned to defend their gold medals. Joining Martin on the women's side were
2005 World champion Anette Norberg of Sweden, 2002
World Junior champion Cassandra Johnson of the United States of America, two-time world champion
Dordi Nordby of Norway, 1996
European champion Mirjam Ott of Switzerland, 2004
Canadian Mixed champion Shannon Kleibrink of Canada, 2005 European Junior Challenge champion
Ludmila Privivkova of Russia, three time Pacific Curling champion
Ayumi Onodera of Japan, 1994 European champion
Dorthe Holm of Denmark, and for the host country, 2003 World Junior bronze medalist
Diana Gaspari from Italy. Joining Trulsen on the men's side was 2001 World Junior Champion
Brad Gushue of Canada with the help of two-time World champion
Russ Howard calling the shots, former World Junior champion and European champion
David Murdoch of Great Britain, two-time European champion
Andy Kapp of Germany, 2000 European champion and 2005 European mixed champion
Markku Uusipaavalniemi of Finland, 1993 World Championship bronze medalist
Pete Fenson of the United States of America, 1997 World Junior champion
Ralph Stöckli of Switzerland, three-time Pacific Curling champion
Sean Becker of New Zealand, three-time World Champion
Peja Lindholm of Sweden, and the host Italian team skipped by
Joel Retornaz. ==Men's==
Men's tournament Teams :* – Calls the game as a skip normally would :× – The Olympics have recorded the skip as
Russ Howard, however the team internally considers that
Brad Gushue is skip. It is a team formed by Brad Gushue.
Standings Schedule Draw 1 - Monday, February 13, 0900 Note: in the following, the hammers denote the team that has the last stone in the first end. Draw 2 - Monday, February 13, 1900 Draw 3 - Tuesday, February 14, 1400 Draw 4 - Wednesday, February 15, 0900 Draw 5 - Wednesday, February 15, 1900 Draw 6 - Thursday, February 16, 1400 Draw 7 - Friday, February 17, 0900 Draw 8 - Friday, February 17, 1900 Draw 9 - Saturday, February 18, 1400 Draw 10 - Sunday, February 19, 0900 Draw 11 - Sunday, February 19, 1900 Draw 12 - Monday, February 20, 1400 Semi-finals - Wednesday, February 22, 1900 1 vs. 4 In a close game, where both teams played extremely well, the game came down to the last rock of the tenth end. Finland (1) had the hammer, and skip Markku Uusipaavalniemi had to put a rock right on the button to win the game. It was either that or a difficult hit and roll off a British (4) rock in the four-foot frozen to a Finnish rock. British skip David Murdoch had an excellent raise hit and roll to make the freeze on his last rock, but it was no match for Markku's draw—giving Finland the win.
2 vs. 3 In the other semi-final, Canada (2) outplayed the Americans (3) for most of the game propelling them to victory. The Americans kept it close for most of the game, always within a few points until the ninth end. With Canada having the hammer, USA skip Pete Fenson had a difficult draw to beat out four Canadian stones and get buried but half of the rock was left out in the open. Canada's skip Brad Gushue peeled off Fenson's rock on his last, giving Gushue five points, at which point the American team conceded.
Bronze medal game - Friday, February 24, 1300 US skip Pete Fenson got the victory after hitting a British stone in the open on his last shot of the game, giving him the only point he needed in the 8–6 victory. The momentum for the Americans began in the third end however, when the Americans scored a three-ender. David Murdoch, the British skip tried to draw to the button on top of two American stones, but was a few inches short, leaving the rock in the open. It was easily tapped out by Fenson giving the Americans three points, and they never trailed after that point, going on to win the country's first Olympic curling medal. The game was interrupted by a streaker wearing a rubber chicken, prompting one of the British players to joke, "Are you Scottish?"[https://web.archive.org/web/20060226205932/http://edition.cnn.com/2006/SPORT/02/24/torino.streaker.reut/
Gold medal game - Friday, February 24, 1730 After
Finland skip
Markku Uusipaavalniemi missed an opportunity with the hammer in the 1st end, scoring only two points instead of three (0-2),
Canada dominated and scored two points with the hammer in the 2nd end (2-2) before stealing the next two ends with a point in each (4-2). Finland finally won a point with the hammer in the 5th end to reduce the deficit (4-3), but numerous Finnish mistakes led to Canada's scoring six points in the 6th end (10-3), which effectively won the match and secured the gold medal. Brad Gushue of Canada actually had the chance to score an unusual seventh point with the hammer, but his draw shot had too much weight and together with some furious sweeping at the house by the Finland skip, it passed through the house. As it is, six is very unusual as well, and Gushue blamed the miss on nerves. However, Gushue's miss was of little consequence due to Canada's lead. By this time, Finland wanted to concede, but had to carry on until the 8th end before being allowed to do so. They finished 10–4 with no points in the 7th end and one point in the 8th end. It was Canada's first gold medal in men's curling after winning silver at
Nagano in 1998 and
Salt Lake City in 2002. School children in
Newfoundland and Labrador, where four of the five Canadians are from, had the afternoon off from school to watch the game. Those four Newfoundlanders were the first to ever win a gold medal at the Olympics. Mark Nichols, Canada's third, played phenomenally with a 97% shooting percentage. His raise-triple take-out in the sixth end was a major factor in Canada's scoring the six-point rarity.
Round robin final player percentages Minimum 6 games. Five best players from each position Final standings ==Women's==