Italy: remember the glasses?by Rodger Schmidt
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – We are midway into Day 2 of competition in Cortina, where this morning saw only two games on ice. Both were not very competitive, however, as Norway smashed France and Scotland bashed Sweden. That does not, however, dim the competitiveness of this competition.
The World Curling Federation and their delegates are conducting their own off-ice Olympics at the splendid Savoia Hotel and the events that they have put on the program are, frankly, pretty intense. One would think that this collection of international curling representatives would sit down and discuss issues pertinent to our games operation and administration in a calm and studious environmentm and come to some logical common contentions – and that would be pretty much that.
But no! No, it seems, because the stakes – and the lust for power – have become too appetizing to resist.
You see, once the games on ice begin, so do the games behind the scenes, which pit one international coalition against some other international coalition. While the games begin at 09:00, 14:00 and 19:00, there is another schedule, with a lot of other agendas, going on in meetings at 09:00 and 14:00... followed by an evening of lobbying and strategizing that is the World Curling Federation Annual Meetings. A kind of sport called WCFAM.
These meetings have been conducted for decades and until now they have not attracted this much international intrigue and mystery. So what has changed?
Curling has changed, as a sport, actually. Twenty years ago this game was virtually bankrupt and was played seriously in only a handful of countries. Fast forward to today, and you have a large contingent of nations aware of, and eager to bite into, the anticipated USD $15 million that will soon come to the WCF as a result of the Vancouver Olympics.
You see, some of the delegates have finally tuned in to the fact that every four years the WCF takes in an increasing amount of millions and then blows it all out over the next three... and some feel that they have not yet partaken in their share of the cake. Some may even wonder where that money has gone, and don’t feel that the trail is as visible as they would like. They don’t see the bricks and mortar.
As a result of all of this, curling finds itself in a unique and unprecedented situation amongst its political representatives. Confusion reigns on a lot of levels and within a vast number of executive disciplines.
But more on that later. This afternoon, on the ice, the young Italy squad skipped by Joel Retornaz – remember the eyeglasses of Turin 2006? – gave Germany their first defeat, leaving both teams at 2-1. Canada sits 2-0, equal with Scotland, after thrashing Denmark, while China won the battle of the Pacific over Japan and the USA got win number one by handing Switzerland loss number two.
[WCF photo by Urs Raeber]