Britain swoons after Scottish women win Olympic gold at the curling rink

AP ^ | 2-22-02 | BARRY RENFREW

[Oldeconomybuyer]

LONDON (AP) -- A group of Scottish housewives armed with stones and brooms accomplished what a generation of taut, young British athletes couldn't. They won gold at the Winter Olympics.

And now Britain is swept up in a new curling craze, in love with the sport that brought a Winter Games winner to the country for the first time since Torvill and Dean.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The British women's curling team at the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games show off their gold medals at a press conference in Salt Lake City, February 22, 2002. From left to right are Margaret Morton, Debbie Knox, Rhona Martin, Janice Rankin and Fiona MacDonald. REUTERS/Jeff Mitchell - Feb 22 1:13 PM ET

[boomop1]

Wow which beauty shop do they work at?

[Diddle E. Squat]

The Housewives Who Went Up a Molehill(sport) and Came Down a Mountain?

[MeekOneGOP]

I wonder if I could win a gold medal curling this?

[Diddle E. Squat]

More proof that the sun set long ago on the British Empire.

[Arkie2]

This does have the makings of one of those eccentric Brit films doesn't it? Good for them.

[Dallas]

I watched most of the competition....

But then again, I like playing shuffleboard.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Weren't the Scots given independence a few years back? Why isn't this a Scot win? Why is China allowed to have both a Chinese and a Hong Kong team? Just wondering. (^:

[MeekOneGOP]

Enquiring minds wanna know! :o)

[Eala]

Weren't the Scots given independence a few years back? Why isn't this a Scot win?

Just like the English. See something good, and suddenly it's theirs! *\:-|

(Sigh. As a child I often watched the curling, but then the family moved to miserably hot California!)

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Just like the English. See something good, and suddenly it's theirs!

LOL! Sounds like a Democrat. My grandmother came over from Scotland ~1906. She was an Anglophile, though. Traitor. (^:

[Tanya Featherstonehaugh]

At the moment, the Olympics teams (Summer and Winter) represent Great* Britain rather than each separate nation of the Union. There are plans to change this in the next few years, I believe.

As it stands at the moment, though, it's celebrated as a British victory rather than a purely Scottish one. Torville and Dean are English, but again, the whole of Britain celebrated their wins, not just England. Fair's fair.

* This title doesn't mean what most people assume it does.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thanks you both for clearing that up.

Wanker, we were just having a little sport...no mean-spiritedness intended. The competition brings out the national (and hereditary) pride. My Scottish ancestors loved their homeland and shared this love with me. So I cheer for Scotland...and all great athletes who risk their necks and knees so we can see the extraordinary gifts of the human body combined with such will. Awesome.

U.S.A! U.S.A! (^: