Curling had its moment at the Olympics and now Paralympics. It sparked a curling bonanza in America
📖 Full Retelling
Hundreds of people become interested in curling every four years and the 2026 numbers already show that boom. (Image credit: Claire Harbage)
Entity Intersection Graph
No entity connections available yet for this article.
Original Source
Curling had its moment at the Olympics and now Paralympics. It sparked a curling bonanza in America March 7, 2026 5:00 AM ET Anusha Mathur Ted Hallock delivers a rock during a curling game at the Potomac Curling Club in Laurel, Md. Curling clubs often see a boost in interest following the Winter Olympics. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption toggle caption Claire Harbage/NPR After weeks of anticipation, Stacy Bishop packed her suitcase, wrangled her 6-year-old son and headed to the airport. Nine hours later she and her family arrived in Italy, ready to watch the Winter Olympics. Their event of choice: curling. Bishop is the media director of the Potomac Curling Club in Laurel, Md., and she built her entire vacation schedule around watching the curling pros in action on the ice. "We made some signs that hopefully people will think are funny if they see them on TV," Bishop said the week before she left for Milan. "They say 'the triple's there' and 'peel the guard' — things that curlers would find funny and nobody else. My 6-year-old has a flag that he will be waving that just says 'sweep'." Curling was the only sport to air every day of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. A report shared with NPR by USA Curling showed that curling had the largest viewership of any sport during NBC's Winter Olympic coverage. As the Paralympics kick off, wheelchair curling athletes from across the world will compete every day. Back in America, a surge of people are trying the sport out for themselves. Stones are lined up on the ice at the Potomac Curling Club in February. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption toggle caption Claire Harbage/NPR Bishop first began curling 16 years ago during an Olympics season. She, and many others at her club, cite the Winter Olympics as the reason why they became interested in the sport. This phenomenon — that thousands of people become interested in curling every four years and decide to get on the ice — is well documented. Dean Gemmell, CEO of USA Curling, th...
Read full article at source