Speaker 1: Curling is a sport for cold places like Scotland, Canada
Speaker 1: and New Zealand, where it snows in the winter and
Speaker 1: the rivers freeze over. So just how did Australia, the
Speaker 1: driest inhabited continent on Earth and with no dedicated curling
Speaker 1: facilities end up with an Olympic qualifying curling team. Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Tony Armstrong. Welcome to the ballroom where we celebrate
Speaker 1: the winners, losers, and the weird stuff between. If you
Speaker 1: haven't heard of curling, you're not alone. It's a decided
Speaker 1: weird sport, an ancient game that somehow made it into
Speaker 1: the modern world relatively untouched. I'm not going to go
Speaker 1: too deep into the rules here, because, believe me, it's
Speaker 1: surprisingly complicated. What you need to know is that it's
Speaker 1: played on ice by teams of either two or four people.
Speaker 1: They take turns to slide a heavy, polished granite stone
Speaker 1: along the ice towards a target. At the same time,
Speaker 1: their other team members sweep the ice in front of
Speaker 1: the stone using actual brooms. It might sound a little strange,
Speaker 1: but make no mistake, this game requires a lot of
Speaker 1: skill and strategy, so much so that it's often referred
Speaker 1: to as chess on ice, the best players exhibit a
Speaker 1: captivating combination of balance, coordination and grace, and a healthy
Speaker 1: understanding of physics. Hugh Millikin is a curling champion, the
Speaker 1: vice president of the World Curling Federation, and, as you
Speaker 1: might have guessed, a lifelong passionate proponent of the sport.
Speaker 1: So when he moved to Australia from Canada, he was
Speaker 1: shocked to discover there were no dedicated curling facilities in
Speaker 1: the entire country, but he didn't let that deter him.
Speaker 1: Soon after arriving, Hugh helped establish the first Australian curling
Speaker 1: team in the early nineties and became their skipper, the
Speaker 1: team's captain. Fast forward to two thousand and eight. At
Speaker 1: the World Men's Curling Championship, the Aussies broke a record,
Speaker 1: winning five out of six games. At the time, this
Speaker 1: was the most wins ever for an Australian team. It
Speaker 1: also meant they found themselves in the running for something
Speaker 1: that until that point had seemed a far away dream,
Speaker 1: the opportunity to qualify for the twenty ten Winter Olympics.
Speaker 1: This was huge. The Australian team had worked towards this
Speaker 1: goal for years, but it had always seemed so unlikely
Speaker 1: at the time. There are an estimated three hundred curlers
Speaker 1: in Australia, compare that to Canada's one million. The Aussie
Speaker 1: team saw this as an opportunity to raise the sports
Speaker 1: profile at home and let the world know that Australian
Speaker 1: curlers were serious contenders. They enlisted the coaching services of
Speaker 1: Earl Morris, a champion Canadian curler, but without dedicated training
Speaker 1: facilities in Australia, they were forced to travel. When they
Speaker 1: could afford it, They'd fly to Canada to train. Other times,
Speaker 1: New Zealand provided a cheaper option a little closer to home.
Speaker 1: Despite these challenges, things were looking promising. Practice was going
Speaker 1: well and they were improving. Because of Hugh Milliken and
Speaker 1: his team's unrelenting dedication, Australia had gone from having a
Speaker 1: non existent curling team to being within reach of competing
Speaker 1: on the world stage. But then six months out from
Speaker 1: the qualifying round, disaster ruck. All of their curling equipment
Speaker 1: was stolen, including fifty eight stones, costing an estimated twenty
Speaker 1: three thousand dollars for a small team playing a practically
Speaker 1: unknown sport. This financial blow signaled the end of their
Speaker 1: Olympic dreams. They already had to pay for expensive flights
Speaker 1: and accommodation just to train, and now they'd lost all
Speaker 1: their gear. Luckily, they managed to raise the money needed
Speaker 1: to replace most of it, but looking back, that was
Speaker 1: the final straw for Australia's first curling team. When the
Speaker 1: qualifying games came around, the Aussies played with the spirit
Speaker 1: that had got them there, but it just wasn't enough.
Speaker 1: They came tenth, missing the Olympics by half a point.
Speaker 1: For a while, it looked as if Australia's curling dreams
Speaker 1: were over. Hugh Milliken wasn't the only one working hard
Speaker 1: to raise the sports profile down under. Lynn Gill was
Speaker 1: watching the nineteen ninety eight Winter olymp Ex held in
Speaker 1: Japan when she chanced upon the icy game and immediately
Speaker 1: fell in love. Excited to have a go, she called
Speaker 1: up her local ice drink, only to learn what Hugh
Speaker 1: had already discovered. There were no dedicated curling facilities in
Speaker 1: the whole of Australia, least of all in Sydney where
Speaker 1: she was living. In fact, the ice rink she called
Speaker 1: had no idea what curling even was years passed. Lynn
Speaker 1: focused on raising her family, but she couldn't seem to
Speaker 1: get curling out of her head. After moving to Brisbane,
Speaker 1: she decided to try her local ice rinks again. This time,
Speaker 1: the person she spoke to knew what curling was, and
Speaker 1: even better, they knew where she could find stones to
Speaker 1: play with. There just so happened to be a bunch
Speaker 1: gathering dust at a neighboring ice rink. They agreed to
Speaker 1: let a practice if she went and collected the stones
Speaker 1: herself and found a group of people who wanted to play.
Speaker 1: So Lynn now had some equipment and a place to train,
Speaker 1: but she still needed to find other people who wanted
Speaker 1: to join and learn the rules of the game herself.
Speaker 1: This was pre social media, it wasn't exactly easy to
Speaker 1: meet other curling enthusiasts. She started by asking every Canadian
Speaker 1: or Scottish person she met if they knew anything about curling.
Speaker 1: She put adverts in the newspaper and even tried to
Speaker 1: interest her friends and family in the game. Surprisingly it worked.
Speaker 1: Lynn eventually pulled together about fifteen people enough to form
Speaker 1: the Queensland Curling Association, and after receiving just an hour
Speaker 1: of training through a former Scottish champion. Finally Lynn was
Speaker 1: on the ice. It seems sort of risky dedicating all
Speaker 1: those years to a game you've never played. What if
Speaker 1: Lynn ended up hating it? Fortunately, though she loved it.
Speaker 1: Lynn joined the Australian women's curling team, became a curling
Speaker 1: coach and is now the matriarch of one of the
Speaker 1: greatest curling families in Australian history, the Gills. A passion
Speaker 1: for curling is often passed down from parent to child,
Speaker 1: and Australia's current mixed doubles team Dean Hewett and Tari Gill,
Speaker 1: is no exception. Dean Hewitt is the son of Stephen Hewitt,
Speaker 1: who was part of the original Australian curling team alongside
Speaker 1: Hugh Milliken. Tarly Gill, Dean's doubles partner, is Lyn Gill's daughter.
Speaker 1: Their coach, John Morris wait for it, is the son
Speaker 1: of Earl Morris, the coach who worked with the Australian
Speaker 1: team in their bid for the twenty ten Olympic Games.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty one, at a qualifying event in the Netherlands,
Speaker 1: they made history by being the first ever Australian curling
Speaker 1: team to receive a quota spot for the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two Winter Olympics. They've now got their sites firmly set
Speaker 1: on the next games in twenty twenty six. In February
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty three, the World Curling Federation announced that
Speaker 1: Australia's curling community had finally got their long awaited wish.
Speaker 1: A d dedicated curling facility will open Integron on Canberra,
Speaker 1: one of Australia's coldest cities. It's due to open in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, meaning for the first time ever, Ossie's
Speaker 1: will be able to train on home soil, just in
Speaker 1: time for Tali and Dean to make history once again.
Speaker 1: Thanks for hanging out in the ballroom, I'm Tony Armstrong
Speaker 1: and you've been listening to an iHeart production. See you
Speaker 1: next time for another story from the wonderful world of sport.
Speaker 1: Catch up