by Chad McMullan

SAO PAULO – Day Six is now complete and the Neutrogena Curling Arena is open to the public for 10 full days!

Our celebrity superstar curler, Linn Githmark of Norway, appears to have survived yet another hectic media schedule that literally went on and on and on – all day long, for some 11 hours – starting with a live in-studio interview on Band Sports.

It would be easier to list the media outlets that are NOT speaking with her, or us, than to list the media which are.

Curling had a huge presence in all the print biggies yesterday morning and, remember, we were just getting started. Folha delivered a full two-page spread in the middle of the sports section, and their online version also includes a video . O Estado de Sao Paulo gave serious space on the back page of their sports section, as read by Mark Shurek in the photo at left and also displayed in this online version.

Here’s more from Terra Brasil, another from Terra Brasil, and one from Jornal da Tarde. And more from R7 and even the Brasilian version of AdNews. And still more from Rede Bom Dia, which includes shout-outs to: all of the Canadians, “Norse goddess” Linn, and also our agency hosts from Ginga,brasilis.

Now here’s an interesting photo. On the right we have Linn, who is giving instruction to three guys. The fellow wearing the awesome and infamous LoudMouth golf/curling pants is Abel Neto, a famous Globo sports reporter. The fellow in the blue sleeves is a professional bocce player.

It seems that virtually every Brasilian who tries curling comments that it is “like bocce but on ice”. And fully half of those hasten to add: “but mostly old Italian men play that”.

And the fellow on the far left? He’s a local street sweeper. I kid you not. The Brasilians appear to be fascinated with the idea that street sweepers can excel at curling.

But lets turn this over to curling instructor Brian Chick for the last words on how his stable of new Brasilian curling teachers are coming along, plus a comment on his own stamina throughout the gruelling hours. Said Brian:

My instructions were this: you can get some time off when the people you train are good enough to teach curling without you!

Actually, of the four on-ice instructors Hollie Nicol and I taught yesterday, three of them are pretty much there, and the other is close. All the Brasilians involved are out practicing during any spare minutes, and they are all enthusiastic, eager, and asking a lot of questions.

So I should get an afternoon off in the next few days to go see some of Sao Paulo… or maybe I’ll just sleep. Our hosts seem intent on making sure we don’t get much of that! Thursday night was an amazing Brasilian band, complete with Capoeira dancers… but Chad and I were forced to quit sometime around 2:00am. The rest of the gang – all Brasilian – was at a club until 6:00am!

[Click on photos to view in larger size]

Ei! Slow Down! Não tão rápido!

The official VIP event launch is over, and now the brand new Neutrogena Curling Arena is now open to the public. From today through August 22, Brazilians can try curling, the Olympic winter sport that caused a frenzy through TV screens in that country. One of the event organizers has been in Brasil since  last weekend and has been reporting exclusively for The Curling News.

by Chad McMullan

SAO PAULO – South America’s first-ever curling organizing committee is exhausted, and totally running on fumes… but we love it.

Thursday was the longest day, culminating in the evening VIP launch which was, in a word, spectacular.

Wednesday, Day Four, featured completing the ice surface and welcoming our two Canadian curling instructors, Hollie Nicol and Brian Chick. The first-ever curling stone was thrown in Brasil, and Brian got the honours. As you can see by the photo above, he caught our photographer completely by surprise, and was nearly out of the camera frame before the photo was taken!

Curling superstar Linn Githmark

It’s worth mentioning, however, that the first person to throw a South American curling stone to the button, the centre of the house and the ultimate display of curling prowess combined with mental fortitude, was our chief ice technician, Mark Shurek. And in true ice tech style, he managed the feat without a slider, a brush, nor a sliding delivery.

We would expect nothing less!

In addition, our celebrity curling star, Norwegian women’s skip (captain) Linn Githmark, arrived from the Land of LoudMouth Curling Pants and tried to get some sleep before her gruelling Thursday with the media.

Media interest in Brasil for The Roaring Game is nothing short of fantastic, a direct result of the incredible television ratings Brasilians produced during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The interest was so high – also reflected in tens of thousands of Twitter tweets and the creation of Brasil-based curling blogs – that additional playoff coverage of the men’s and women’s world championships made it on to Brasilian TV screens.

And THAT is why the media and public are coming out in droves to the Neutrogena Curling Arena here at Shopping Eldorado, it clearly has NOTHING to do with the fact that Linn is an attractive blonde woman who was one of the first curling calendar girls back in 2005/06 (left).

How can it be any clearer, really?

On that note, Linn gave us some thoughts on this entire experience, despite the fact that she’s still jet-lagged and we’ve only really just begun.

Linn doing media with her translator

When I got the invitation to come to Brasil my first thought was, how will I be able to get time off work? Linn said with a chuckle.

She continued:

I have actually never been to any of the South American countries before, so I was really looking forward to getting down to Brazil. It’s a good start to visiting a new continent and I’m really happy to be here. My friend married her Brazilian boyfriend last year and has lived here for a while, and she speaks really highly of the country and its people!

What I hope to accomplish is to let Brasilians in on just how much fun you can have with curling in your life. It is a great sport that suits everyone, and you can play it your whole life.

It would be fantastic if more countries from South America gathered around the best game in the world!

Incidentally, Linn is well-travelled: in addition to tremendous curling experience she has achieved around the world, she also studied Mandarin Chinese and East Asian culture/politics for four years, which included living in China for two years – most of that in in Beijing and another six months in Kunming, in the south.

Welcome!

On Thursday, we trained the Brasilian instructors that will now work with Hollie and Brian for the next 10 days, giving the perfect rookie curling experience to thousands of Brasilians. We also spent time fine-tuning the ice surface of the new, unofficial and very temporary Sao Paulo Curling Club (SPCC) in preparation for the 7:00pm launch.

As predicted, it was a media bombardment for Linn. She remained standing, smiling, crouching, sliding and throwing stones through non-stop interviews for television, radio, print and online outlets.Every big player in Brasil was present or will be attending on Friday.

The launch was hosted by the Associação de Apoio à Dermatite Atópica, the Brazilian Atopic Dermatitis Association, who are receiving fundraising proceeds from this event.

Over 100 people rammed into the Arena – mostly doctors and specialists in the industry, along with various client types and special guests – and there were the usual hors d’ouvres, champagne, speeches, and so on.

Hollie, Brian and Brasil's new curling instructors

Then, finally, came the first official curling match (of sorts) contested on South American soil, an exhibition game of Guys versus Girls: myself, Brian and Mark versus Linn, Hollie and Fernanda, the Brasilian instructor who just learned to curl a few hours prior!

The guys won 2-0 on the pressure-packed last stone of the second and final end of play.

After game we opened the ice to contest winners, doctors and other guests to try the sport. The evening festivities were supposed to end at 10:00pm, but we couldn’t shut it down until about 11:30pm because people would not leave the ice. All night there was a lineup to get onto the ice surface – we basically had to kick people off. Most of those people who made it onto the ice during the promotion were vowing returning again, sometime between today and August 22, to play again!

We managed to shoot a brief video to accompany these words and pictures: click here to view.

More coming soon!

[Click on photos to view in larger size]

The challenge

by Chad McMullan

SAO PAULO – More food. I feel like I am in an Anthony Bourdain No Reservations episode. Ginga’s Gui took us to a “hole in the wall” Japanese restaurant where we once again experienced “rodizio” although this time, raw fish replaced red meat.

You might wonder about sushi in Brasil, but Sao Paulo actually has the largest Japanese diaspora in the world – the population of Japanese people outside of Japan – so they know what they are doing, and it showed.

Unfortunately, we also came crashing back down to earth weather-wise.

After a gorgeous opening day the thermometer plummeted to about 16 degrees, but hey, it is winter here. If that happened in Canada we’d have our flip flops and sunscreen on, so no complaints. Time to focus on the task at hand – building a curling rink, the first in South America (however temporary).

Flooding. And lots of it

We knew coming in that curling, and everything to do with it, would have to be done a bit differently than we’re used to in the northern hemisphere, but watching local rink staff squeegee water off the rink while wearing ice skates was NOT part of either of our expectations.

Yes, you read that correctly. Ice skates. We may have photo and video evidence of this, but it seems The Curling News editor wants to do “something special” with this evidence, so you will simply have to visualize those images for now.

Turns out it’s actually a pretty quick and effective method – pay attention, all you curling ice technicians.

As such, day two was all about melting some of the ice away so we could start over, and attempt to level the not-so-level surface.

Not our typical meal choices

Things went fairly well and we even ended up getting the rings into the ice at the end of the night. Enormous thanks go out to the good people at Jet Ice for hooking us up with some rings that could be easily transported, personally, without damaging them.

Turns out Brasilian customs doesn’t like the importing of liquids/chemicals like ice paint on short notice… so Jet Ice came to the rescue by basically making us in-ice logos, in the form of rings. Very cool.

We should also point out that due to the size of the rink these are nine-foot rings, not the usual 12. Hey, I already mentioned that things would be done differently in Brasil!

Up early and back to the rink on day three, to lay down as many floods as possible to level the surface. The hotel breakfast doesn’t exactly live up to Gui’s selections but, naturally, this was rectified a bit later with lunch later while waiting for flood number two to freeze.

As the Ginga,brasilis crew works away at getting the rest of the environment ready for the Neutrogena promotion, the venue is actually beginning to look like a curling rink… check out The Curling News Twitter feed for a great photo of how well things are coming along.

Cerveja. And lots of it

After 13 hours of flooding we finally managed to get out of the mall, and out for a long-awaited cold one and, hopefully, a quick nap before Brian and Hollie arrived from Rio.

Turns out the place we went to for a beer boasted about 500 different brands from around the world, as well as Brasil vs USA futebol on a big screen. Uh oh.

As you can probably guess, the much-needed nap did not happen and once the game was over we met up with the curling instructors to hear their stories from Rio and to go over the plans for the next few days.

Next up: the first stones were thrown – who would get the honours? – and the star of the promotion, Linn Githmark, arrives from Norway… and the anticipated media circus will be underway. Ate mais amigos.

As readers may recall, Canada and the World were headed for a big curling war just after the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

The story is long, and convoluted, and we gave it an acre of space in our gigantic April print issue (did you miss it?) but the nuts and bolts concerned the world championships – owned by the World Curling Federation at all times but managed (and sold) by the Canadian Curling Association when hosted in Canada. The new WCF, with its new branding and new Swiss-based marketing agency, wanted a new and very different deal for the Canadian-hosted championships, and the CCA wanted to hang on to the partnership formula that first started, in its embryonic state, way back in 1995.

Heading into the men’s Capital One Worlds in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, things were getting downright ugly. And there might have been some serious political fallout.

Fast forward to late June, when Canadian Curling Association boss Greg Stremlaw told us that he was “optimistic” that his organization – the biggest national sport federation in the curling world – and the world’s official governing body of curling would be able to negotiate a new deal on the future of World Championships in Canada.

We took that as a sign that the fences had been mended, and all would soon become right in our curling world.

Indeed. Today the WCF formally announced the signing of a new agreement with the CCA, which will see Canada hosting the World Women’s Championships in 2012 and 2014 and the Men’s World Championship in 2013.

And in the nick of time, too. This year’s Men’s Worlds in Regina (2011) was an extension to the old deal, and was agreed upon at the last second barely a year ago. The 2012 World Men’s will be hosted in Basel, Switzerland.

The deal is for a minimum of three years and provides the CCA with the first right of refusal for renewal.  The sites for the events in 2012, 2013 and 2014 will be determined by the CCA in consultation with the WCF.

Naturally, the agreement has the approval of the WCF’s worldwide marketing partner, Infront Sports & Media. Infront has formed a separate partnership agreement to work with the CCA during this period.

Under the new agreement, the Canadian sports TV channel – and CCA partner – TSN will continue to hold the exclusive broadcasting rights in Canada for the World shootouts.

In a break with past arrangements between the WCF/CCA and committees organizing the World events in Canada, the new agreement now gives these host committees a percentage of gross ticket sales. The CCA will also own the presenting sponsor position for all world men’s and women’s events held outside of Canada.

From heated tempers in April… to happy campers a couple of months later. Amazing what can happen when the snow melts, eh?

“The WCF is delighted to have signed an Agreement which will run to 2014 with our largest Member, the Canadian Curling Association,” says WCF President Kate Caithness. “This will ensure that alternating World Championships will continue to be held in Canada and will be a joint operation between the WCF and CCA.”

For his part, CCA CEO Stremlaw was quoted as such: “I am thrilled that the WCF, CCA and Infront Sports & Media have agreed on a unique concept which will allow the CCA to manage and operate these world events, on behalf of the WCF, and to leverage the marketing rights to Corporate Canada and beyond. I would like to thank the CCA’s project team that worked tirelessly on this partnership agreement and express my sincere appreciation to Kate Caithness, WCF President, for her cooperation and involvement.”

And just like that, all’s well that ends well.

We’ll have more details on, well, the details at some point in the future, certainly by the time we return to printed product in late October.

And now, back to where the real curling action is… Brazil! Of course!

Brian shows his colours

Brian Chick and Hollie Nicol are the Canadian curling instructors for next week’s Neutrogena curling promotion in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

by Brian Chick

WARNING: There is not much curling in this blog post!

Yesterday afternoon fellow instructor Hollie was splashing around in the ocean, while I was lying on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. I thought to myself, “How did curling bring me here?”

Truth be told, curling brought us to Brazil; it was really our own decision to spend a few days in Rio before heading to our final destination, Sao Paulo. Either way… the reason we are in Brazil is indeed, the Olympic winter sport of curling, otherwise known as The Roaring Game.

We left Toronto on Saturday afternoon, on our way to Atlanta. After a four-hour layover there, we were on a 767 bound for Rio (side note: NEVER watch The Bounty Hunter as Gerard Butler will be RUINED for you). We landed, passed through customs and immigration, and were in a taxi to our hotel in no time.

By the time we reached downtown, it was just after 9am on Sunday, and we were confused about what was supposed to happen next. Thank goodness we could check in early.

Hollie goes Coconuts in Rio!

We spent much of the first day wandering the beaches of Rio; the two most famous being Copacabana in the east, and Ipanema in the west. We watched games of volleyball, soccer, and paddleball as I enjoyed the first of a few Brahmas… and Hollie decided to try drinking from a coconut.

We then spent our evening at Estadio San Januario to see the #11 and #14 teams in Brazil play in a game that meant relatively nothing in the grand scheme of the Brazilian Football Championships. The crowd of 16,000+, however, was passionate, loud, and vulgar. The home team, Vasco da Gama, beat Vitoria 1-0.

On Monday we made our way up to the statue of Christ the Redeemer, high above Rio. Although the statue is only 30 metres tall, it can be seen from most corners of the city, as it is perched on Corcovado, a mountain 750 metres high.

The most famous landmark in Brazil is, unsurprisingly, almost certainly outdone by the 360 degree view of city – everything from favelas (slums) to mountains, gorgeous beaches and ocean are amazing to view while standing on the top of the peak… which is sure to become one of the most filmed and photographed landmarks as the 2016 Olympic Games draw closer.

Wow.

Before heading off to Sao Paulo today, we managed to squeeze in one more amazing adventure.

The hang-gliding we had scheduled for Monday was cancelled due to excessive winds and clouds, but this morning’s attempt was… successful!

Thrilling? Oh yes… just imagine taking off from a mountain, 1,500 up, and landing on a beach. Priceless.

On to Sao Paulo, where we will meet up with Chad, Mark and the gang at Ginga,brasilis and check out the ice!

Photos by Brian Chick and Hollie Nicol: click on any image to increase viewing size.

And be sure to check The Curling News Blog, and our Twitter feed, often as we bring readers exclusive, behind-the-scenes updates on South America’s first-ever live curling experience!

Just days from now, the sport of curling will debut in South America for the very first time.

Apenas os dias a partir de agora, o esporte de curling vai estrear na América do Sul pela primeira vez.

Shopping Eldorado in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, will host a corporate promotion by Neutrogena, one of the beauty brands of Johnson & Johnson. And The Curling News has learned that Canadians – and Norwegians – will play a pivotal role.

The promotion is being executed by Sao Paulo agency Ginga Brasilis and Toronto’s Rock Solid Productions, who also deliver the Capital One Rocks and Rings school program.

The fellow charged with making Brazil’s first “real” sheet of curling ice is none other than Mark Shurek, the chief ice technician for the Grand Slam of Curling series.

Things get underway August 13 with the campaign launch, and features the skip of Norway’s 2010 women’s team, Linn Githmark.

Curling continues all the way to August 22, with two more Canadians – noted curling instructor Brian Chick and reigning World University Games silver medallist Hollie Nicol – on site every day, helping curling-crazed Brazilians hit the ice for the very first time.

Surprised at that? Trust us, Brazilians have gone gaga for curling as if it was some kind of winter football (ie. futebol). Check out the excitement here, here and here… just for starters.

A dedicated website recently launched here – so check it out for yourself. And stay tuned, as we will continue to bring you exclusive information of curling’s latest and greatest step forward.

Brazilian media interested in learning more can contact Gui Bromberg at Ginga Brasilis via: guilherme@gingabr.com.br

E prepare-se para jogar, Brasil!

Hey hey, the gang was all there

TORONTO – The donations continue to arrive as a final first-year total of $68,083 was announced for the Capital One Charity Bonspiel in support of SickKids Foundation.

24 celebrity curling skips joined 72 other curling fundraisers in early June for the inaugural event, which will return next year on June 2-4, 2011 at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club.

Donations that continue to be collected will go toward next year’s event fundraising total. Contributors are invited to send an inquiry email to: sickkidsbonspiel@rogers.com

The list of curling superstars who appeared at the event included world champions Glenn Howard (Coldwater, ON) and Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg, MB) and their teammates; world champion Randy Ferbey (Edmonton, AB) as well as 2006 Olympic champion Brad Gushue (St. John’s, NL) and the 2010 Olympic sensation from the United Kingdom, Eve Muirhead (Blair Atholl, Scotland).

Who else do you recognize in the photo above? (click on image to increase size)

Information on the June 2011 event will be posted to the event website in the coming months. Apparently inquiries are coming from as far as Texas. Who might that be, we wonder?

[The Curling News photo by Anil Mungal]

Cheryl Bernard (left) and her 2010 Olympic silver medallists will battle the boys at the 2011 TSN Curling Skins Game.

Bernard and her Calgary women’s team will take on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic men’s champions from Edmonton, Team Kevin Martin, in one of the two event semifinals played January 22, 2011 at Casino Rama just outside of Barrie, Ontario.

The other semi will feature the 2010 defending champions, Team David Murdoch of Scotland, against the new world men’s champions from Edmonton, Team Kevin Koe. The two semifinal winners will compete in the final on January 23.

The Skins Game is a three-match, made-for-television competition featuring four teams in a unique style of play. Money – a total of $100,000 – is the key to scoring, and teams must either score two or more points with the hammer or steal a point to win a “skin”. The total amount of money earned determines the winner.

All three matches will be televised live in High-Definition on Canada’s TSN (The Sports Network).

“We’ve never had the opportunity to take on such a high calibre of men’s teams so we jumped at the chance to participate in the TSN Curling Skins Game,” said Bernard in a news release. “The venue, format and interaction with the fans will definitely make for a fun weekend of curling. But watch out guys – we are playing to win.”

Team Bernard is only the second women’s team to compete in the Skins Game. Two years ago, Winnipeg’s Team Jennifer Jones battled Glenn Howard at Casino Rama and were crushed, scoring just a single skin over the eight-ends of play.

Bernard’s inclusion means Team Howard will not compete in the 2011 event. Howard, who resides in nearby Midland, has been invited to the three previous Skins Games and enjoys a large local following.

It also guarantees another summer and fall of off-ice debate, regarding the ability of female curlers to compete with their male opponents. Here’s an excerpt of a recent interview between Canwest News and Team Martin third John Morris:

CANWEST: If your team, the men’s Olympic champs, played 100 games against women’s champ Anette Norberg of Sweden, how many would you win?

MORRIS: Oh, I’m going to get myself in trouble for this answer, I bet. I would say 90.

CANWEST: Why such a disparity? Why such dominance by the men?

MORRIS: Well, you can compare it to (the gender difference) in tennis or golf. First of all, the sweepers are a lot better in men’s curling. And being able to throw the rock really hard can be a big weapon. So, the advantage of sweeping and the advantage of throwing the rock harder would be enough to unbalance the scale, I guess.

The Curling News has blogged live from all three previous Curling Skins Games, providing exclusive behind-the-scenes anecdotes and photos. You can catch up on previous coverage via our blog archive, during the months of January in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

After all, you never know what you’re going to see at the Skins Game. Like this.

[Anil Mungal photo copyright 2010 The Curling News. No reproduction is permitted]

Norberg (top) and Team Ostlund (below)

When news of her Olympic team breakup came just two weeks ago, legendary Swedish women’s curling skip Anette Norberg indicated she would stay involved with her sport, and seek to nurture young talent for the future.

Norberg has taken that one step further. The two-time world and two-time defending Olympic women’s champion has formed a new team and will embark on yet another run for gold at Sochi 2014.

Norberg has joined forces with Team Cissi Ostlund, the young Swedes who lost the bronze-medal game at this year’s 2010 Ford World curling championship to hosts Canada, skipped by Jennifer Jones.

Ostlund had lost the 2010 Swedish finals to Team Norberg, but the veterans declined to compete at the worlds, preferring to focus entirely on Vancouver 2010. Ostlund and company, the 2008 world junior silver medallists, did a great job in their first adult worlds appearance and the future clearly beckoned.

But so did Norberg, who despite decades of competition and a jammed trophy case – she’s also captured seven European championship titles in her career – just doesn’t want to quit. Norberg will be 47 in 2014.

“I would like to help build a competitive Swedish team, and these girls are already well on the way,” said Norberg in a statement.

Norberg had spoken to Reuters shortly after her Olympic team breakup and gave hints that her winning confidence is still very high.

“(My team’s retirement) doesn’t really make much difference,” said Norberg at the time. “If I continue playing, I will carry on as before. I still haven’t made a decision about the future, but if I decide to continue I’m sure I can win another gold medal.”

Norberg had also spoken highly of her apparent heirs, telling Svenska Dagbladet that “There is nothing to prevent Cecilia Ostlund from being as good as we are… (if) all four stay together and make the effort required, they have absolute potential and possibility.”

Norberg now joins forces with Ostlund, Sara Carlsson and Lotta Lennartson, the girlfriend of Swedish Olympic men’s skip Niklas Edin, to represent the Karlstad Curling Club. Former Ostlund teammate Anna Domeij has left the squad and will reportedly take a break from high-performance competition.

[Anette Norberg photo by Anil Mungal, copyright The Curling News 2010. Team Ostlund photo by Victoria Times Colonist]