This year's world women's curling championship, which ended yesterday, was a real wakeup call for all who take Canada's dominance in the sport for granted. The Canadian team won gold yesterday, but they had to work for it like never before.
Enter the Asians. In what would have previously been an unheard of occurrence, Canada lost to China in the round-robin play and again in the first playoff game. but bested them in the final. The Chinese didn't play well, perhaps due to the pressure. The Japanese team, which just about (and probably should have) beat Canada in the second playoff game, finished fourth after losing to Denmark in the bronze medal game.
Consider that China 1) has only a couple of hundred curlers out of a population of nearly 1.5 billion; and 2) has no curling clubs. Had they won gold, it would have been like the Jamaican bobsled team winning the Olympics. These ladies were amazing.
The Japanese and Chinese are both coached by Canadians and have benefited greatly from our expertise in the sport. And this is only the beginning. The days of it being a foregone conclusion that Canada would win at the world championship are gone for good.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:06 AM
