Tuesday 23 February 2010

Curling sweeps away old image

Something very strange is happening in the world of curling. Something very strange indeed.

Traditionally the sport of, shall we say, the rather reserved upper middle classes, it has had something of a makeover, and it appears to be becoming, well, almost cool.

The Norway men's team have been turning out in tight polo shirts and funky checked trousers made by the people who supply golfer John Daly, and their outfits have been gathering them media attention across the world.

Indeed, they've been invited to present a pair of the trousers to the King of Norway on their return home, and there was a queue forming at the Irish House tonight to get pictures taken with one of the team as he danced the night away.

Meanwhile, in the women's game, a new generation of curling starlets have been grabbing all sorts of attention, and most Canadian and America fans have swapped their usual 'What the hell's curling?' for 'Wow, who's she?'

Scotland skip Eve Muirhead may have got off to a losing start in her Olympics career when the team bowed out of the competition yesterday, but she's still one of the most talked-about athletes at the Games. And at just 19 she has a string of Olympics to look forward to yet.

     Scotland's Eve Muirhead, with team mate Kelly Wood. Picture: Martin Boyle

Meanwhile Russian skip Liudmila Privivkova is proving to be another big draw at games - but it's Danish curling star Madeleine Dupont who is attracting most attention, with a remarkable number of people in and around Vancouver, and beyond, suddenly able to name the girl who plays third for Denmark in curling. Who'd have thought that before these Olympics started. Perhaps news of her appearance in a nude calendar helped.

Liudmila Privivkova is likely to be a big star when the Russian town of Sochi hosts the next Winter Olympics. Picture: Martin Boyle

But why so much media attention on the new wave or curling stars?

As Lars From, of Denmark's largest national newspaper told me: "We've all got the same press access, the same quotes, and the same sports results to report, so we all need to go out and find a new angle, something of interest to our readers.

"There's no doubt that Madeleine has been one of those stories."

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