Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics

Wheelchair curling
Wheelchair curling
Wheelchair curling is an adaptation of curling for athletes with a disability affecting their lower limbs or gait. Wheelchair curling is governed by the World Curling Federation, and is one of the sports in the Winter Paralympic Games....

at the 2006 Winter Paralympics
2006 Winter Paralympics
The 2006 Winter Paralympic Games, the ninth Winter Paralympics, took place in Turin, Italy from 10 to 19 March 2006. These were the first Winter Paralympic Games to be held in Italy. They were also the first Paralympics to use the new paralympics logo....

was played at the Pinerolo Palaghiaccio

Pinerolo Palaghiaccio

Pinerolo Palaghiaccio is a 2000-seat indoor arena located in Pinerolo, Italy. The venue hosted the curling competitions for the 2006 Winter Olympics in neighboring Turin.-Reference:* Volume 3. pp. 68-9....

, in Pinerolo

Pinerolo

Pinerolo is a town and comune in north-western Italy, 40 kilometres southwest of Turin on the river Chisone.-History:In the Middle Ages, the town of Pinerolo was one of the main crossroads in Italy, and was therefore one of the principal fortresses of the dukes of Savoy. Its military importance...

, 30 km southwest of Turin. Wheelchair curling was making its first appearance at the Paralympic Games

Paralympic Games

The Paralympic Games are a major international multi-sport event where athletes with a physical disability compete; this includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and Cerebral Palsy. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which are held immediately following their...

and took the form of a mixed team event, open to athletes with a physical disability in the lower part of the body that required the everyday use of a wheelchair.

Teams from eight nations, each containing five athletes, entered with four teams advancing from a group stage to a knockout round. Canada won the sport's first Paralympic gold medal beating Great Britain in the final. Sweden won the bronze medal.

Medalists

Medal	Team
	(Chris Daw Chris Daw Chris Daw then moving to Strathroy, Ontario where he grew up. He is a Paralympian who has competed in adaptive track, marathon, basketball, rugby, and curling. He was once considered the fastest wheelchair athlete. He is the only Canadian athlete to represent Canada at multiple Paralympic Games... , Gerry Austgarden, Gary Cormack, Sonja Gaudet Sonja Gaudet Sonja Gaudet is a Canadian Paralympic curler. She was on the team that won gold at Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics and was recently named to the wheelchair curling team for the 2010 Winter Paralympics-Results:- References :... , Karen Blachford)
	(Frank Duffy Frank Duffy (curler) Frank Duffy was a Scottish Paralympic curler. He was the skip of the silver-medal winning British team at the 2006 Winter Paralympics. He began curling at age 12 and developed paraplegia due to an accident at 35. His career highlights include sharing Gold at the 2004 and 2005 WCF World Championships... , Michael McCreadie Michael McCreadie Michael McCreadie is a Paralympian with successes in lawn bowls and wheelchair curling. He won two bronze medals in lawn bowls at the 1976 Summer Paralympics. After that he coached the British wheelchair basketball team. Later in life he moved on to wheelchair curling and was on the silver medal... , Tom Killin Tom Killin Tom Killin is a British multi-sport Paralympian. Killin was paralysed following a traffic accident at the age of 17.Killin won two medals in fencing at the 1970 Commonwealth Games... , Angie Malone, Ken Dickson)
	(Jalle Jungnell Jalle Jungnell Jalle Jungnell is a Swedish Paralympic curler. His team won bronze in Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics and in the 2009 World wheelchair curling championship they won silver.-Results:- References :... , Glenn Ikonen Glenn Ikonen Glenn Ikonen is a Swedish Paralympic wheelchair curler. He was on the bronze medal winning Swedish team at the 2006 Winter Paralympics and competed at the 2010 Winter Paralympics, where he was suspended for six months for use of an illegal drug, a blood pressure medicine he had taken for 4–5... , Rolf Johansson, Anette Wilhelm Anette Wilhelm Anette Wilhelm is a Swedish wheelchair curler. She was on the bronze winning Swedish team at Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics. She was also on the silver medal winning Swedish team at the 2009 world championship. She has two children and was paralyzed in an accident.-Results:-... , Bernt Sjoeberg)

Preview

Wheelchair curling is played according to the rules of the World Curling Federation

World Curling Federation

The World Curling Federation is the world governing body for curling accreditation, with offices in Perth, Scotland. It was formed out of the International Curling Federation , when the push for Olympic Winter Sport status was made...

, the only modification is that there is no sweeping and stones may be played by hand while leaning over the side of the wheelchair, or pushed by a delivery stick. To be allowed to compete athletes must have a physical disability in the lower part of the body that required the everyday use of a wheelchair .Teams are mixed but must contain at least one member of each sex.
Wheelchair curling was first introduced in Switzerland in 2000 and the first World Championships were held in the same country in 2002. It is governed by the World Curling Federation

World Curling Federation

(WCF); as of 2009, 24 of the WCF's member associations were involved in the sport.

This was the first appearance of the sport at the Paralympic Games; the International Paralympic Committee

International Paralympic Committee

The International Paralympic Committee is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nine sports...

had granted official medal status to mixed gender wheelchair Curling in March 2002. The organising committee of the Turin Games in 2006 agreed to include wheelchair curling in their programme.

The British team, competing as Scotland and made up of Frank Duffy

Frank Duffy (curler)

Frank Duffy was a Scottish Paralympic curler. He was the skip of the silver-medal winning British team at the 2006 Winter Paralympics. He began curling at age 12 and developed paraplegia due to an accident at 35. His career highlights include sharing Gold at the 2004 and 2005 WCF World Championships...

, Ken Dickson, Tom Killin

Tom Killin

Tom Killin is a British multi-sport Paralympian. Killin was paralysed following a traffic accident at the age of 17.Killin won two medals in fencing at the 1970 Commonwealth Games...

, Angie Malone and Michael McCreadie

Michael McCreadie

Michael McCreadie is a Paralympian with successes in lawn bowls and wheelchair curling. He won two bronze medals in lawn bowls at the 1976 Summer Paralympics. After that he coached the British wheelchair basketball team. Later in life he moved on to wheelchair curling and was on the silver medal...

had won the gold medal at the World Championships in January 2005 in Glasgow; Denmark and Switzerland won the silver and bronze medals. Britain had also won the 2004 World Championships, and were considered favourites for a medal.

Event summary

Eight teams competed and the format was a round-robin tournament

Round-robin tournament

A round-robin tournament is a competition "in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn".-Terminology:...

; each nation played all others in a group stage with the top four qualifying for medal playoffs. Canada topped the group, Great Britain finished second and Sweden finished third, all three qualifying for the semifinals. Denmark and Norway finished joint fourth and faced each other in a tie-breaker match to decide who took the final position in the semifinals; Norway beat Denmark 4-3 to advance.

The semifinals saw first seeds Canada play Norway and Great Britain face Sweden. Canada beat Norway 5-4 and Great Britain stole three in the 1st end of their game, going on to win 7-3 win. Sweden only managed to curl 35% as a team, with skip Jalle Jungnell struggling at 23% for the game. Sweden and Norway met in the bronze medal match, the Swedes won 10-3.

In the final Great Britain faced Canada. Trailing 6–3 in the final end British skip Frank Duffy had an opportunity with the last stone of the tournament for an open hit of a Canadian stone that would have scored four for Britain and won them the gold medal. He threw too hard and the shot tracked an inch wide allowing Canada to score one and win 7-4.

Teams

The following athletes represented their nations in the 2006 Paralympic wheelchair curling tournament;

Team	Roster
Team	Skip	Third	Second	Lead	Alternate
	Frank Duffy Frank Duffy (curler) Frank Duffy was a Scottish Paralympic curler. He was the skip of the silver-medal winning British team at the 2006 Winter Paralympics. He began curling at age 12 and developed paraplegia due to an accident at 35. His career highlights include sharing Gold at the 2004 and 2005 WCF World Championships...	Michael McCreadie Michael McCreadie Michael McCreadie is a Paralympian with successes in lawn bowls and wheelchair curling. He won two bronze medals in lawn bowls at the 1976 Summer Paralympics. After that he coached the British wheelchair basketball team. Later in life he moved on to wheelchair curling and was on the silver medal...	Tom Killin Tom Killin Tom Killin is a British multi-sport Paralympian. Killin was paralysed following a traffic accident at the age of 17.Killin won two medals in fencing at the 1970 Commonwealth Games...	Angie Malone	Ken Dickson
	Urs Bucher	Manfred Bolliger	Cesare Cassani	Madeleine Wildi	Erwin Lauper Erwin Lauper Erwin Lauper is a Swiss wheelchair curling player. He represents Bern CC, and began wheelchear curling in 1981.He has competed at all World Championships since his first in 2005, and was also part of the Swiss team which finished sixth at the 2006 Paralympics.Nationally, he won gold at the Swiss...
	Kenneth Ørbæk	Rosita Jensen	Jørn Kristensen	Sussie Pedersen	Bjarne Jensen
	Chris Daw Chris Daw Chris Daw then moving to Strathroy, Ontario where he grew up. He is a Paralympian who has competed in adaptive track, marathon, basketball, rugby, and curling. He was once considered the fastest wheelchair athlete. He is the only Canadian athlete to represent Canada at multiple Paralympic Games...	Gerry Austgarden	Gary Cormack	Sonja Gaudet Sonja Gaudet Sonja Gaudet is a Canadian Paralympic curler. She was on the team that won gold at Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics and was recently named to the wheelchair curling team for the 2010 Winter Paralympics-Results:- References :...	Karen Blachford
	Jalle Jungnell Jalle Jungnell Jalle Jungnell is a Swedish Paralympic curler. His team won bronze in Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics and in the 2009 World wheelchair curling championship they won silver.-Results:- References :...	Glenn Ikonen Glenn Ikonen Glenn Ikonen is a Swedish Paralympic wheelchair curler. He was on the bronze medal winning Swedish team at the 2006 Winter Paralympics and competed at the 2010 Winter Paralympics, where he was suspended for six months for use of an illegal drug, a blood pressure medicine he had taken for 4–5...	Rolf Johansson	Anette Wilhelm Anette Wilhelm Anette Wilhelm is a Swedish wheelchair curler. She was on the bronze winning Swedish team at Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics. She was also on the silver medal winning Swedish team at the 2009 world championship. She has two children and was paralyzed in an accident.-Results:-...	Bernt Sjoeberg
	James Joseph	Augusto Perez Augusto Perez Augusto J. "Goose" Perez is a Spanish American wheelchair curler. He was the 2008 USA Curling Male Athlete of the Year and was on the bronze medal team at the 2008 wheelchair curling world championships. He graduated from Le Moyne College. In addition to curling he is also competed in kayak and...	Jim Pierce	Danell Libby	Wes Smith Wes Smith Wes Smith is a former wide receiver in the National Football League. Smith was drafted in the tenth round of the 1986 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals and was later a member of the Green Bay Packers. He played at the collegiate level at Texas A&M University-Commerce.-References:...
	Egidio Marchese	Andrea Tabanelli Andrea Tabanelli Andrea Tabanelli is an Italian wheelchair curling player.He was a member of the Italian wheelchair curling team for the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Torino....	Pierino Gaspard	Rita Dal Monte	Emanuele Spelorzi
\|Rune Lorentsen Rune Lorentsen Rune Lorentsen is a Norwegian wheelchair curling player.He started playing wheelchair curling in 2004. He was the skip when Norway won the gold at the World Championships in both 2007 and 2008....	Geir Arne Skogstad	Paul Aksel Johansen	Lene Tystad	Trine Fissum

Group

Final standings

Country	W	L
	5	2
	4	3
	4	3

	4	3
	4	3

	3	4
	2	5
	2	5

Session 1

Team	Result
	3
	4

Team	Result
	3
	6

Team	Result
	6
	4

Team	Result
	3
	9

Session 2

Team	Result
	3
	10

Team	Result
	1
	7

Team	Result
	1
	5

Team	Result
	5
	3

Session 3

Team	Result
	5
	4

Team	Result
	6
	7

Team	Result
	4
	5

Team	Result
	2
	6

Session 4

Team	Result
	6
	4

Team	Result
	0
	14

Team	Result
	7
	2

Team	Result
	6
	7

Session 5

Team	Result
	5
	8

Team	Result
	4
	5

Team	Result
	7
	3

Team	Result
	5
	6

Session 6

Team	Result
	2
	8

Team	Result
	4
	7

Team	Result
	7
	6

Team	Result
	1
	6

Session 7

Team	Result
	5
	3

Team	Result
	2
	5

Team	Result
	5
	4

Team	Result
	2
	10

Tie-breaker

Team	Result
	4
	3

Medal round

External links

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