How curling has grown after the 2022 Winter Olympics

Curling has once again been one of the most popular sports at the Olympic Winter Games.

And such has been its growth during, and since, Beijing 2022 that it is fast becoming a truly global game.

Previously dominated by Canada, Team GB, and the Nordic nations, the sport has seen a rise to prominence of Asian and mainland European nations on the professional circuit.

Further to this, even in countries where curling has historically been popular, younger generations are beginning to pick up a broom, and partake in the uniquely accessible pastime.

But what exactly is fuelling this new-found popularity – and can it continue well beyond Beijing 2022?

For Bryan Spang and his wife, Debbie, the sport is a family affair, with the couple playing at the Pittsburgh Curling Club rink in Stowe Township.

The US is hardly new to curling, as the nation won medals at the World Championships as far back as 1961.

What is new, however, is the role the Olympic Winter Games has seemingly played in attracting more people to try it out for themselves.

Their 23-year-old son, Zackary, now a teacher in the Bald Area School District in Centre County, frequently plays with his parents.

According to Debbie, he started in 2014 as a “sweeper” on the four-member team and has since improved massively.

“We’ve seen it (curling) grow, especially in the year (2018) when Team USA won gold in the Olympics,” Dustin Devine, president of the Pittsburgh Curling Club, told Triblive.

“After that Olympics, the club – which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year - had about 1,000 new people try the sport,” Devine said.

It now has about 120 members, up from about 90 members in 2018, he claims.

“We’re slowly moving to recapture the momentum we had before