Each time the Winter Olympics come around, curling fascinates Americans who only get to see it on television once every four years. The sport is part of the Olympic program at Pyeongchang almost every day of the Games, with medal ceremonies on the very last day. The curling tournaments air on NBC Sports Net and CNBC, with some matches also airing on USA Network.
Curling is a sport that involves four or three players. One player slides a stone called a “rock” towards a target area with four circles. The direction of the rock can be influenced by another player with a sweeper.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Although Curling dates back to the 1500s, the sport only joined the regular roster of Winter Olympic sports at the 1998 Olympics. It was played at the first Winter Olympics in 1924 and was a demonstration sport in 1932, but was not played again as an official sport until Nagano. For the Pyeongchang games, the Olympic committee added a mixed doubles tournament.
On Monday, the first medal in mixed doubles curling went to Anastasia Bryzgalova and Aleksandr Krushelnitckii of the Olympic Athletes From Russia team. They beat the Norway duo for the bronze medal. Bryzgalova became a viral sensation Monday morning.
The match to decide the mixed doubles gold medal is on Tuesday and airs at 3 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT on CNBC. It features Canada going against the Swiss team.
The next medal match will not be until Friday, Feb. 23. The Men’s bronze medal match airs at 9:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m. CT on CNBC. The Men’s gold medal match starts at 3 a.m. ET/2 a.m. CT on NBCSN on Saturday, Feb. 24. This match will re-air at 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT on NBCSN.
The women’s tournament will also be decided on Feb. 24. It starts at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT with the bronze medal match, on NBCSN. The gold medal match will air at 7:05 p.m. ET/6:05 p.m. CT on NBCSN.
The matches leading up to the medal matches will air on NBC Sports Network, CNBC and USA. You can find the full NBC Olympics curling schedule by clicking here.
The U.S. men’s curling team includes John Shuster, Tyler George, Matt Hamilton, John Landsteiner and Joe Polo. The members of the U.S. women’s team are Nina Roth, Tabitha Peterson, Aileen Geving, Becca Hamilton and Cory Christensen. Team USA has not won a curling medal since taking home a bronze in the 2006 Turin tournament.
Photo credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
