The Olympics and curling.
Canada, Switzerland, USA and a little bit of Korea, as host. These are the current superpowers of world curling. The sixty member countries of the World Curling Federation are celebrating their great sporting feast by, among other things, presenting a third category at the Winter Olympics in addition to the classic two. The somewhat bizarre discipline of Mixed Doubles, which opens the Winter Olympics programme with several matches before the opening ceremony. For a spectator who only watches curling once every four years, this is certainly a surprise. Fewer stones to play with than in normal curling. Some stones pre-installed in the target field, and not always in the same positions. Sometimes there is a thrower on the lane, but sometimes not, and surprisingly there are two from time to time. An almost unsolvable puzzle for the casual viewer, accompanied on Eurosport by a commentary with inaccurate information about the rules. The television coverage of these matches is not entirely happy either, instead of the emotions of the players, who in truth often quickly disappear from view, we are presented with the sight of an abandoned stone travelling down a track to somewhere, at an unclear speed. The first duels showed some of the weaknesses of this added category, but also hinted at the potential. The time-grabbing whole takes a thrilling course with an often dramatic ending. The conclusion of the China-Switzerland match can be mentioned for all. The infamous Martin Rios once again latched on to a problematic moment. There are two better Chinese stones in the rings in the last end, which is enough to win, but the situation will be 100% clear when the best one is removed and the other two are inspected. An active and willing Dexin Ba moves the stone to the center, but doesn't realize that the Swiss is practically touching it. At that point, Rios advertises that the stone has been moved and there is no way to decide which would be better. The umpires, who did not see the situation, rely on the ethical rules of curling and, after deliberation, set the result of the eighth end at one for China. In the ensuing extra end, the Swiss win. I don't want to pry into anyone's conscience, but somehow this Swiss boy is often at controversial moments. It doesn't matter (or does it?), the Olympics is a big event for us, even without Czech participation, and you learn from other people's mistakes.
""