(Islamic) Controversy Intrudes on Danish Curlers

MLive/AP ^ | 02/11/06 | Charles Hutzler

[Kieri]

Controversy intrudes on Danish curlers 2/11/2006, 1:34 p.m. ET By CHARLES HUTZLER The Associated Press

PINEROLO, Italy (AP) — After women curlers won Denmark's first ever Winter Olympics medal at Nagano in 1998, Danes would stop team member Dorthe Holm in the streets and interest in the sport soared.

Now, as Holm and four other women try for a medal at the Turin Games, they face a grimmer public spotlight. Angry protests across the Muslim world set off by cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish publication have made them a potential target.

Italian police have beefed up security for the Danes on par with the Israeli and U.S. teams, Danish sports officials said, and international media are begging to interview them.

The controversy is unusual for a slow-moving sport that attracts little publicity. If team members were unnerved, they didn't show it Saturday as they slid the 42-pound curling stones across the ice during an 80-minute practice session at the Pinerolo venue outside Turin. The Danish queen's sister, Princess Benedikta, watched from the press stands.

"They're managing to stay focused," said Jesper Frigast Larsen, the Danish Olympic delegation's chef de mission and one of a phalanx of sports officials trying to shield the curlers from the media. "It would be a shame if anything came in the way of that slim chance for a medal."

But even without the controversy and media glare, the Danish curlers have tread an unusual path to compete for an Olympic medal. The women are the only athletes competing for Denmark in Turin, making them the sole focus of the country's medal hopes, and the silver at Nagano remains the only medal the country has won at a Winter Games.

"The Danish delegation is the curling team," said team spokeswoman Eline Andersen. "We have no skier or anyone else."

Most countries' curling teams are comprised of athletes who have played together on the same local clubs for years, developing a rapport curlers say is crucial in a sport that relies on finesse. The Danes, by contrast, cobbled their team from two clubs, choosing 10 veterans with less experienced curlers in October and paring them to five.

"We've had a short time to learn about each other and know our weaknesses and strong points," Holm, the team's leader, or skip, told reporters in brief remarks following practice. "We do it in other sports like football, handball and whatever, and I think it's a good way to try to build" a team.

Holm, a 33-year-old office manager and a member of the Nagano team, said the challenge of piloting this new dream team drew her from retirement. And the new formula worked: The team won the bronze at the European Championships in December.

Team officials allowed her to speak with reporters under condition she not be asked about the political controversy.

Since being thrown together, the team members practiced almost every day at the curling rink in Hvidovre, a sleepy middle-class suburb on the waterfront south of Copenhagen. At a lunch for club sponsors there on Saturday, the conversation mixed expressions of support for the athletes with worries about security.

"I am certain they will make it to the semifinals," said John Ziegler, deputy chairman of the Hvidovre Curling Club. "I believe they could win gold."

Ziegler is traveling to Turin on Saturday to cheer on the team but mindful of the situation is leaving the Danish flag at home. "I was looking forward to waving it and making a lot of noise," he said, "But now we're keeping a low profile. I don't see any reason to add fuel to the fire."

Curling wasn't popular in Denmark until the Nagano victory. Team leader Helena Blach won a promise from a local mayor to build a curling venue in Hvidovre and suddenly the number of players nationwide doubled to more than 1,000 from 500, said Niels Larsen, president of the Danish Curling Association.

Holm "was a role model," said Andersen, the spokeswoman. She said two members of the current team, Denise Dupont and Maria Poulsen, took up curling after watching TV broadcasts of Holm and the rest of the Blach team compete in Nagano.

"We don't have celebrities like you do in the States," Andersen said. "But for a period of time people will recognize her on the streets and say, 'Hello, we saw you on TV.' That's what she told me happened after Nagano."

And the curling venue in Hvidovre, a suburb of Copenhagen, has become a Mecca for curling. All team members but Dupont play there, Andersen said.

___

Associated Press Writer Jasmine Nielsen contributed reporting from Hvidovre, Denmark.

[Kieri]

A handful of Danish women. Ranting Islamic fanatics. The Olympic Games. Not good.

[Altair333]

"After women curlers won Denmark's first ever Winter Olympics medal at Nagano in 1998"

Say what? Denmark never won a Winter Olympics medal before then? Pretty bad for a cold-weather country- Norway seems to get dozens of medals each winter Olympics.

[Thombo2]

Any pics of the team?

[Uncle Miltie]

Ask, and ye shall receive.

[RebelTex]

Interesting. I had heard about curling, but I didn't know much about the sport.  Here's an educational link I found which gives a good description of it:  Curling Basics

IMHO, curling most closely resembles shuffleboard on ice, with a little bowling and horseshoes (or washers) thrown into the mix.

[ncountylee]

Must be at "Leb style" risk.

[danamco]

Say what? Denmark never won a Winter Olympics medal before then? Pretty bad for a cold-weather country- Norway seems to get dozens of medals each winter Olympics.




Denmark doesn't have the amount of snow or mountains like Norway, Sweden or Finland!!!

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

women's---curling---team----

Nope, too easy.

[quantim]

has become a Mecca for curling

That, in of itself, is, well. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[montag813]

Some cuties on that team. They can curl up next to me anytime.