Wheelchair Curling

Curling is an official sport of the Paralympic Winter Games.

Athlete Eligibility and Classification

In Paralympic competition, athletes with physical disabilities that affect the lower limbs are eligible to participate in wheelchair curling. The impairment must be obvious and must require a wheelchair for daily mobility. Examples include spinal injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and double leg amputation. Teams of four people must have at least one player from the opposite sex.

Events

There is one event in Paralympic curling, comprised of 10 ends. One end/game finishes when each player on both teams has thrown two stones. The team with the highest score wins. In Paralympic competition, a round-robin tournament is conducted to determine medalists.

Playing Area

The area of play is called a curling rink with a pebbled ice surface, and dimensions of 44.5m long by 4.5m wide. The rink is marked with concentric circle targets of 4', 8', and 12' diameter at each end. The overall target is called the "house" and the center of the target is called the "tee". Tees are 36.7m apart.

The rink is marked with a center line from end-to-end of the rink, and hog lines which are boundaries for releasing the stone. Also, there is a foothold projecting from the ice (called a "hack) at each end of the rink. Players may push-off from the hack to start play. The following illustration is from http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/ other_sports/winter_sports/sport_guides/4464652.stm.

Rules

Wheelchair curling is governed by the World Curling Federation (WCF) rules as modified by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The WCF rules can be accessed at http://www.worldcurling.org, and the IPC rules can be accessed at http://www.paralympic.org. Paralympic curling follows the WCF rules with the exceptions that no sweeping is allowed and that a teammate may stabilize the player's chair while playing.

The players throw the stone from a wheelchair near the central playing line. Every player throws two stones, alternating with his direct opponent. Players may throw with the arm/hand or using an extension handle. The team captain, called a "skip," determines which of three throws should be used:

The goal is to get a stone as close to the tee as possible. A game is comprised of 10 ends. One end/game finishes when each player on both teams has thrown two stones. The team with the highest score wins. In Paralympic competition, a round-robin tournament is conducted to determine medalists.

Equipment

Usual curling equipment includes stones, shoes, and brooms. The equipment list differs for Paralympic curling, including stones, wheelchairs, and extension handles. Shoes are not regulated because the players are seated in wheelchairs. Brooms are not used because there is no sweeping in wheelchair curling.

The stone is made of dense granite. It weighs 42-44 pounds, has a maximum circumference of 36 inches and a maximum height of 4½ inches. Different stones have different sliding surfaces for fast and slow ice. The handle is detachable so that it can be used with different stones.

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