Men’s Curling Team Is Bright Spot for U.S. at Winter Olympics

It would be an understatement to say Team USA has had a disappointing go of it at the 2018 Winter Olympics, but one team greatly exceeded expectations.

The U.S. ranked fourth with 23 medals on Saturday, and many of the chosen athletes have been critical of President Donald Trump’s administration, leaving some fans uninterested in this year’s festivities. Still, the U.S. men’s curling team showed resilience on Saturday, taking home the gold in a comeback effort.

In a performance dubbed “Miracurl on Ice” by some, the American men — featuring John Shuster, Joe Polo, John Landsteiner, Tyler George and Matt Hamilton — overcame a late five-point deficit and were able to defeat Canada, a curling powerhouse, to earn the gold medal.

In the three Olympics games prior to this, Canada had taken home gold in the event.

The team’s final shot hit the five-spot of the bullseye and knocked two of Canada’s curling stones out of the scoring zone to secure the gold.

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After the win, the team briefly wore the wrong medals. They were initially handed the women’s medals — but it did not take them long to notice the mistake and receive their proper awards.

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The win for Team USA was extraordinarily unlikely given prior struggles in the games. Sure, the team earned the bronze medal in 2006, but the U.S. men finished dead last out of 10 teams in Vancouver back in 2010 and ninth out of 10 teams in Sochi back in 2014.

The common denominators between the 2006 squad and this year’s team were Shuster and Polo. This means that they were able to win it all despite the majority of their five-man lineup’s not having that much experience.

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In this victory, the team showed the true American spirit as the men roared to a comeback win. They worked incredibly hard to move from one of the poorest performing curling teams at the highest stage earlier in the decade to being number one for the first time ever.

Curing is not a particularly popular sport in the United States — so the participation rate nationally is low. This may change now. And the men representing the country dedicated themselves for years to becoming the best at it and ended up actually being the best — not only in the United States, but in the world.

Curling is also a relatively new sport for the Olympics, so the country’s success in it could prove beneficial to the sport’s growth nationally. Although it had one run in the 1924 Olympics, curling was not played at the Olympics again until 1998 — and even then, neither American team enjoyed much success. That 2006 bronze medal was the only achievement the U.S. men or women had to show for their efforts.

These men worked hard, represented America, did not use their platform to preach about politics — and found a niche at which they could excel.

Regardless of whether or not curling ever makes it into the mainstream American sports sphere, the takeaway from this performance does not change. These men worked hard, represented America, did not use their platform to preach about politics — and found a niche at which they could excel. Everyone has a place in society — construction worker, nurse, police officer, tech professional or what have you — and these Olympic men found theirs in an uncommon place.

Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, ESPN, and other outlets.