‘It’s not like darts!’– Olympic curlers brush off ‘Valium on ice’ criticisms from armchair fans
As the ancient game gets its four-yearly spotlight, the sport’s best players give short shrift to claims that curling is boring and requires little effort
Tired of being the butt of jokes, Olympic curlers have hit back over accusations their sport is boring and requires little actual physical effort.
An ancient pursuit said to date back to medieval Scotland, where teams armed with brooms furiously rub the ice while screaming at an inanimate object, it triggers excitement once every four years.
But curlers at the Pyeongchang Games are fed up with armchair fans likening the slow-burner sport to Valium on ice or suggesting you don’t need to be especially athletic to participate.
“People tend to think that we just throw our stones, a bit like darts,” bristled Finland’s Tomi Rantamaeki, drawing a comparison to a game frequently associated with overweight pub-goers.
“The difference in darts is that you don’t move the ones you threw earlier,” he sniffed. “They’re not reading the game in the same way that we do.”