Curlers challenging pudgy stereotype

Download

Bad raps are hard to reverse, but Brad Jacobs is doing his part to change the stereotype of the chain-smoking, beer-bellied curler who spends more time in the bar than fine-tuning his craft on the ice.

Jacobs said there is a new era of athleticism emerging in curling and his Canadian crew is on the cutting edge of a fitness trend that has helped transform the sport's image ever since it debuted at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

"Our identity as a team is of fit young guys," said Jacobs after Sunday's practice at the Ice Cube curling center ahead of Canada's opening round win over Germany on Monday. "Our team is unique in the sense that whether we curled or not, we would still be in the gym."

Jacobs and his three teammates spend up to 10 hours a week in the gym working out, doing cardio, stretching and core exercises.

The image that curling bashers like to project - balding overweight men raising another toast in the pub - no longer applies at a high-performance event like the Olympics, said Denmark skip Rasmus Stjerne.

"I would like to see if those (critics) could handle a month of what I do in the summer," said Stjerne, who is a student at the University of Copenhagen.

At the 1988 Calgary Games, curling was a demonstration sport. Canada held a pre-Olympic trial to help pick its team and the potential players were put through a series of fitness tests that revealed that some of the world's top curlers were in dismal shape.

Two-time world champion Ed Werenich couldn't even do a single sit-up and was asked to shape up - which he did by dropping 18 pounds.

"It used to be bad, the smoking and drinking," said Norway skip Thomas Ulsrud. "So I guess the bad reputation we had 10 years ago was true.

"But now I would say the curling athletes are fit. Look at the Canadian and Scottish teams, they work out all the time.

About the broadcaster:

Anne Ruisi is an editor at China Daily online with more than 30 years of experience as a newspaper editor and reporter. She has worked at newspapers in the U.S., including The Birmingham News in Alabama and City Newspaper of Rochester, N.Y.