The Netherlands hosts OQE 2021.
The Netherlands seems perhaps a little surprised to be hosting one of the most important curling events of the Olympic cycle. But the truth is that, according to some sources, curling originated in this country. While this is a minority view, it illustrates the importance of this country on the curling map. On Saturday, December 11, the competition will begin, the result of which will add three new names to the list of participants in the men's and women's categories for the 2022 Olympic tournament in Beijing. We have representatives in both categories, and both Anna Kubeskova's team and captain Lukáš Klíma's squad will be aiming to finish in the top three. The very first duel of the Czech colours will be the women's match against the Scots, who won gold medals at the 2021 European Championships in Lillehammer, Norway, two weeks ago. The situation at the venue is a bit complicated by restrictions, but the hotel is very nice, the hall is in sight, the food is delicious and the ice has the usual competition parameters. We verified the latter at today's training session at the nearby sports complex. The four curling lanes are located inside the speed skating oval, where hundreds of skaters on long blades raced around at lunchtime. And some damn fast. The layout is the arrangement that would have been considered if the famous virtual hall for Martina Sáblíková had been realised. We've had, in addition to the hour-long training session, two team meetings and we're going to bed to give our best performance tomorrow.
rnphoto: Czech women's curling team, from left Svatoňová, Kolchevská, Baudyšová M., Baudyšová A., Kubešková