Olympic curling results.
Olympic curling is over. The Canadians (Jacobs) won gold in the men's competition and the Swedes (Hasselborg) in the women's. From February 4 to today, more than 100 players competed in a total of 147 matches in three medal categories. Nineteen days full of training, matches, but also media appearances of various kinds and even a few scandals of varying degrees. Medal score Europe vs. the rest of the world? Europe has two golds, two silvers, and two bronzes. The rest of the world won one gold (Canada - men), one silver (USA - Mixed Doubles) and one bronze (Canada - women). Asian teams came away empty-handed. In Czechia alone, millions of viewers watched curling broadcasts on television, and on average, each individual match broadcast found its way to more than 350,000 interested viewers. The duo Vogl & Kubeška provided commentary for Czech Television for more than sixty hours and answered hundreds of questions sent by email. From a sporting point of view, the individual categories brought a number of exceptional moments, and the results and performances proved that Sweden, Canada, Great Britain, and Switzerland are still a little ahead of the rest. They are closely followed by the USA and Italy, and to a lesser extent by Korea, Germany, China, Norway, and Denmark, but in these countries, they have a maximum of two categories out of three, and often only one. The Czech women and men are not too far behind, but the short history of domestic curling is one of the factors why some good results are only exceptions. A lack of funding, an unsuitable domestic competition system, and a shortage of qualified and experienced coaches are further limitations to the development of curling to a level that could compete with the best. The professionalism of teams and coaching staff is a prerequisite for solid participation in the elite club, while semi-professionalism, or a modified version of it, only allows a glimpse into the club and the opportunity to be a welcome opponent. Solving this puzzle is the task of the association's leadership for the coming period. The new Olympic cycle is beginning, and there is no time to wait.