Winter Olympics curling triumph draws new generation to the ice

The mottled ice at Curl Edinburgh was thronged with players, as competitors in a ladies’ league gracefully lunged forwards with their curling stones, arms and legs out-stretched. Teammates busily swept hard at the ice, to help the granite gain an extra few millimetres of ground.

Mondays are often busy at Edinburgh’s only curling centre. But this Monday has been transformed by Team GB’s gold and silver medals triumphs at the winter Olympics. Two of the medal-winners play there, as do previous Olympic and world champions.

Aaron Forsyth, the rink’s manager, said the centre has been inundated with inquiries about the sport since the victories in Beijing. “We’ve received hundreds of emails or clicks in the last few days where people have asked to try curling,” he said. “It’s fantastic.”

Part of the challenge, Forsyth said, could be accommodating them all, and particularly supporting the younger children whose interest in the game has been sparked. Guiding those 20kg (44lb) stones down the ice takes greater strength than it may seem.

He believes curling is the UK’s dominant winter Olympics discipline. Team GB’s modest medal rush came late in the games and entirely from curling. After the frustrations of the mixed team coming fourth, the men’s team took silver on Saturday and then the women’s team comprehensively defeated Japan 10-3 in Sunday’s final.

And Curl Edinburgh is perhaps one of the sport’s most successful venues. Open more than 12 hours a day to numerous clubs and leagues, its players drawn from the city’s banks, doctors, local teams and from nearby towns such as Peebles, it is also a popular venue for holidaymakers.

Seen in the UK as an archetypal Scottish sport, Forsyth hosts school parties from England, companies