How Curling Became the Winter Olympics’ Favorite Fixation
It’s like clockwork. Every four years, a whole new coterie unexpectedly finds itself falling in love with curling. It’s easy to understand why. There’s an element of skill porn to watching passionate athletes masterfully do something that, to the rest of the world, probably looks like pétanque on ice. The precision of the stone throw, the careful sweep. It’s fascinating. As the 2026 Winter Olympics begin in Italy, viewers are fascinated.
But as audiences settle in to learn all about the modern iteration of the game and all the gimmicks that come with it, it’s worth paying attention to the curlers of old and what their play tells us about Earth’s climate.
The first written record of curling dates back to 1540. A solicitor in Paisley, Scotland, named John McQuhin, wrote a document in Latin about a challenge between John Sclater, a monk of Paisley Abbey, and Gavin Hamilton, the abbot’s representative. It is said that Sclater threw a stone three times onto the surface of a frozen lake and agreed to participate in the contest. There is no record of whether anyone won this challenge, but it was agreed that moving stones along frozen bodies of water was a good time.
Often called “the roaring game” because of the sounds the stones make on the ice, curling became popular in northern Europe, particularly Scotland, due to particularly harsh winters more than 400 years ago. Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder depicted peasants watching a healing-like game in two paintings from 1565 and 1566. The word “curling” – born from the loop or curved path of the stones during the game – first appeared in 1620 in the lines of a poem by Henry Adamson.
Established in 1716, the Kilsyth Curling Club, originating from the Scottish town of the same name, is widely regarded as the world’s first official curling club. (It is still active today.) The Royal Caledonian Curling Club, founded in 1838, was the first to formalize the rules of the game, according to the International Olympic Committee. From this club was born the World Curling Federation, based in the Scottish city of Perth and which remains active to this day.
In the early days, the stones used in the sport were literally just that: flattened, shaped rocks. There were no requirements regarding size or handles. Some just had holes, similar to a bowling ball. The rough stones meant that throwers relied largely on luck rather than skill or technique.
Over the years the sport has introduced many more rules and regulations, some very complex, regarding the weight and shape of the stones. The same goes for pitch size and match structure. Today, it is the captain, or team leader, who gives instructions to the throwers on their curvatures, their strength and their trajectories. The skip does the same for the sweepers who “sweep” the surface in front of the stone to make it slide.
The Scots are also responsible for spreading curling around the world. Scottish immigrants brought their passion for the sport to North America, particularly Canada, where it is still very popular.
Curling made its Olympic debut in 1924 at the Winter Games in Chamonix, France. At the time, it was just a demonstration sport. It wasn’t until the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, that it became an official Olympic sport. To date, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway have distinguished themselves as curling competitors at the Games.
While the sport was paving the way for official Olympic sport status, it was also making inroads into popular culture. The Beatles attempt to star in their 1965 film Help! The game also makes an appearance in the 1969 James Bond film. In Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
In the early 2000s, as 24-hour coverage and DVRs became commonplace when watching the Olympics, the sport developed a cult following. People who could now watch events at times convenient to their time zone found they could tune in and lose themselves in the fascinating dynamics of the sport for hours. For the 2026 Winter Games, the coverage continues: every stone and every sweep.
