It’s now 24 years since Rhona Martin delivered the Stone of Destiny in Salt Lake City, watched by millions of rapt viewers at dark o’clock in the UK.
Britain’s first Winter Olympics gold in 18 years had been won by a group of Scottish housewives in an odd little sport. ‘Look at them on the ice with their daft wee brooms…’ was the perception by some.
That derogatory view wasn’t correct then and it is even further from the truth now.
The 10 curlers who are representing Team GB in Cortina right now lift weights like sprinters, strategise like chess players, and fuel like Tour de France cyclists.
Every weekday morning, the athletes on the GB programme will start training at 08:30. Each day includes two, two-hour ice sessions and one in the gym.
Across a week, three of those gym sessions are strength-based and two conditioning. Most will add another at the weekend, just to keep themselves right.
They are supervised – no sitting on a bench next to the weights while doomscrolling for this lot – and are specifically designed with curling in mind.
“It’s Olympic lifts we’re doing – clean and jerk, snatches, squats, the lot,” says Hammy McMillan, who’s gold medal-tipped men’s rink start their campaign on Wednesday. “And we’re using ski machines, rowers, and assault bikes to really condition our bodies.”
“The numbers we put up, I don’t think people would expect them,” adds Bobby Lammie, who is credited alongside McMillan as having changed the physicality expected of sweepers.
“It’s allowed us to separate ourselves slightly from the rest of the world.”
Similar can be said of the women’s game, where 2022 gold medallist Jen Dodds – one of the world’s best with a brush – is lifting just as much as some of the men. “More than me, to be fair,” admits men’s vice-skip Grant Hardie.
“Jen is incredible in the gym,” says Team GB women’s skip Rebecca Morrison, who takes a slightly different view of the gym work.
“You need a lot of core strength to even stay upright on the ice,” she says.
“Maybe we’re not flinging ourselves off massive jumps or sliding down a track at 80 miles per hour, but it’s a lot harder than people realise to even keep your balance.”
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