# Becoming an Olympian by Way of the (New) Equadoran Curling Team **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665 "2006-02-15T19:00:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/21 "2006-02-16T15:09:55Z")
My wife’s grandmother broke her ankle curling (trivia: her husband was supposed to swim for the Netherlands in the Olympics, but WWII got in the way). ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/22 "2006-02-16T15:11:11Z")
> [@Crandolph](#): > > OK, I have to ask: what is that one??? > > An athletic female friend of mine from Germany wrenched her leg pretty badly playing badminton at a highly competitive level. Completely plausible, but doesn’t sound right to those of us who think of it as a beach passtime. At a bonspiel I went to a few years back one skip was heading down the ice after the 6th end and his slider foot slid out from under him (going forward). He snapped backwards and cracked the ice with his head. Very bad concussion. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/23 "2006-02-16T19:24:51Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > Is “Alan Smithee” a pseudonym for “Jessica Alba”? > C’mon folks, I need some answers. Well based on recent posts, it looks like you’ll never know for sure… And dammit, I just moved away from DC last summer. I never knew they had curling there! (It’s pretty damned unlikely they have it anywhere close to where I am now: south Arkansas.) ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/24 "2006-02-16T19:25:16Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > At a bonspiel I went to a few years back one skip was heading down the ice after the 6th end and his slider foot slid out from under him (going forward). He snapped backwards and cracked the ice with his head. > > Very bad concussion. I can imagine the chilling horror stories exchanged between curlers over soft drinks late at night. Kinda like what transpired between Quint and Matt Hooper in Jaws. P.S. Did his head damage the ice very much? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/25 "2006-02-16T21:58:21Z")
> [@](#): > > The International Olympic Committee cracked down on this a couple of Olympiads ago, after Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards and the Jamaican bobsledders were threatening to make a joke out of the competition. I don’t have time to look up the details right now, but I think it’s up to each sport’s federation to set standards for individuals to qualify in their sport. Was a special exception made for the Afghani women’s track team a couple of years ago? From what I’ve heard, most reasonably-fit women from the developed world could have beaten them. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/26 "2006-02-16T23:43:16Z")
The first people to have this idea wasn’t the Jamaican bobsled team. It was a team of American businessmen who lived part time in the US Virgin Islands who formed a bobsled team. The ringleader of this stunt, Danny Bergner, lives in Santa Barbara now and I’ve known him for a few years. He actually consulted to the Jamaican team. Forming the team was easy, these were four well connected businessmen and they were basically told, “if it doesn’t cost us anything, go for it.” Getting to the Olympics was tougher. You needed to acquire enough points by placing well enough in various international competitions to qualify for the Olympics. These four guys travelled around to various events, ones in particular where they knew most of the big players weren’t going to attend, and eventually managed to qualify. Danny’s girlfriend (now wife) got to carry the flag in the opening ceremony. They actually finshed better than last place too, something like third or forth from last. According to Danny, the atheletes only party after the closing ceremonies is epic. Lots of nakedness. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/27 "2006-02-17T01:52:23Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > I can imagine the chilling horror stories exchanged between curlers over **soft drinks** late at night. I can tell you don’t know any curlers 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/28 "2006-02-17T02:29:51Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > I can tell you don’t know any curlers 😃 There’s a reason I took up curling. And I played for a team whose motto was ‘The worst that can happen is we get a free drink.’ Hey. I never said I was good at it. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/29 "2006-02-17T02:37:38Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > (trivia: her husband was supposed to swim for the Netherlands in the Olympics, but WWII got in the way). So he swam for England? And if so did he make it all the way there? ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/30 "2006-02-17T12:10:36Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > I can imagine the chilling horror stories exchanged between curlers over soft drinks late at night. Kinda like what transpired between Quint and Matt Hooper in Jaws. > > P.S. Did his head damage the ice very much? The blood ruined the pebbling. Damn near shut down the centre ice. Added at least an extra second before I could get a hold of my rum and coke after an end. 😉 Actually the bad injuries tend to happen to the newer curlers. Its hardly a killing field but it takes a while to get use to running and hopping on ice when wearing a teflon bottomed shoe. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/31 "2006-02-17T16:46:15Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > So he swam for England? And if so did he make it all the way there? Boo! Hiss! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/32 "2006-02-19T05:43:00Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > At a bonspiel I went to a few years back one skip was heading down the ice after the 6th end and his slider foot slid out from under him (going forward). He snapped backwards and cracked the ice with his head. > > Very bad concussion. I had something similar happen to me, but fortunately without the concussion. Was sweeping my tail off, bumped into a rock, lost my balance, and went right backwards. I don’t think I actually was out, but some of my teammates thought I had been. As a measure of how serious they thought it was, they refused to let me drink any beer after the game, because of concerns that the alcohol and a possible concussion would be a bad mix. If curlers won’t let you have beer, things are bad. :eek: Ankle injuries are also a problem, if you get your foot inbetween a stationery 40 lb piece of granite and a speeding 40 lb piece of granite. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/33 "2006-02-20T01:35:40Z")
Lascelles Bown, of the 2002 Jamaican bobsled team, just won silver as brakeman for the Canadian two person team. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/34 "2006-02-20T05:21:59Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Lascelles Bown, of the 2002 Jamaican bobsled team, just won silver as brakeman for the Canadian two person team. Do they take passengers? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665/35 "2006-02-20T09:54:05Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Egad. When I saw the title I thought it said _Equestrian_ Curling Team! I’d pay good money to watch that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-an-olympian-by-way-of-the-new-equadoran-curling-team/344665.md?page=1)