Wheelchair curling is a spin off of regular curling for athletes with disabilities. This adaptation of curling is played with the same rocks and on the same ice surface as curling. One of the main differences in this event is that the rocks are thrown from a stationary position in the chair and there is no sweeping. Wheelchair curling has been an event in the Paralympics for a short time, only making its first appearance as an actual event during the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Torino. The 2009 World Wheelchair Curling Championships will be held in Vancouver in the same venue that will be used for the Paralympics event.
The wheelchair curling competition is comprised of one single tournament, with both men and women competing together on mixed teams. The object of this game is to get the stones closest to the center of the rings as possible. Wheelchair curling takes place over eight ends, much the same as an inning in baseball. In each end each four person team (men & women) slide two stones per competitor for a total of 16 all together. The team with the most stones closest to the center of the rings wins the match.
The wheelchair curling venue is a brand new facility located just outside of downtown Vancouver. Very close to the beautiful Queen Elizabeth Park, this venue has spectacular views of the North Shore Mountains. The capacity for this venue is 6,000. The arena construction commenced in March of 2007 and was complete in the fall of 2008.
Here is closer look at the sustainable attributes for this particular venue as presented by the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Committee:
- Federal (CEAA) environmental assessment review process
- Smart site selection: new facilities replace aging existing community complex and new complex located on former gravel parking area
- Overall consolidation of venue footprint, revised from early designs, will reduce land impact
- Re-vegetation of demolished sites during legacy conversion resulting in target of net zero green space loss. Impacted trees have been relocated to other sites within the park.
- No net loss of play fields resulting from site redevelopment
Use of waste heat from the refrigeration plant to heat other building spaces and adjacent aquatics centre
- Aboriginal art will be installed at the venue as part of the Vancouver 2010 Venues
- Aboriginal Arts Program. The Program will feature traditional and contemporary artwork by First Nations, Inuit and Métis artists from across Canada.
This event will be a great look at how much heart and desire our impaired athletes have all over the world. Come on out and support your country and watch some fantastic curling during the Vancouver 2010 Paralympics Winter Games. See you in Vancouver. |
