(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — One of the first events of the Beijing Winter Olympics is curling.
WBBM Newsradio’s Nancy Harty checked out the Chicago Curling Club in Northbrook, where they see a lot of interest in the sport every four years.
Steve Bergman of Buffalo Grove joined the club in 2002 after the Salt Lake City games. He said people don’t realize how physical curling is.
“Every year, the first few games that I play will work out muscles that I don’t use any other time of the year. And a day or two later, I feel like I was been hit by a truck.
Curlers have been throwing rocks and sweeping for almost five hundred years, but it became an official Olympic sport at the 1998 Nagano games.
Andy Anderson has been to four Winter Olympic games as a statistician and world federation board member. In his more than 50 years of playing, he’s seen the level of competition grow significantly, with players becoming more athletic.
“It used to be a drinking game 20 years ago. That’s not the case anymore,” he said.
The Northbrook club hosts introductory sessions and expects lots of interest with this year’s Olympics.
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