Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics

Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics was played at the Pinerolo Palaghiaccio, in Pinerolo, 30 km southwest of Turin. Wheelchair curling was making its first appearance at the Paralympic Games 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.

Wheelchair curling at the IX Paralympic Winter Games
Venue	Pinerolo Palaghiaccio
Competitors	8 teams from 8 nations
Medalists
Canada  Great Britain  Sweden

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.[1]

Medalists

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Mixed	Canada (CAN) Chris Daw Gerry Austgarden Gary Cormack Sonja Gaudet Karen Blachford	Great Britain (GBR) Frank Duffy Michael McCreadie Tom Killin Angie Malone Ken Dickson	Sweden (SWE) Jalle Jungnell Glenn Ikonen Rolf Johansson Anette Wilhelm Bernt Sjöberg

Preview

Wheelchair curling is played according to the rules of the World Curling Federation, 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.[2] 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 (WCF); as of 2009, 24 of the WCF's member associations were involved in the sport.[3]

This was the first appearance of the sport at the Paralympic Games; the International Paralympic Committee 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.[4]

The British team, competing as Scotland and made up of Frank Duffy, Ken Dickson, Tom Killin, Angie Malone and Michael McCreadie 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.[5][6][7]

Event summary

Eight teams competed and the format was a round-robin tournament; 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 semi-finals. Denmark and Norway finished joint fourth and faced each other in a tie-breaker match to decide who took the final position in the semi-finals; Norway beat Denmark 4–3 to advance.

The semi-finals 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.[8]

Teams

The following athletes represented their nations in the 2006 Paralympic wheelchair curling tournament;[8]

Team	Roster
	Skip	Third	Second	Lead	Alternate	Coach
Canada	Chris Daw	Gerry Austgarden	Gary Cormack	Sonja Gaudet	Karen Blachford	Joe Rea
Denmark	Kenneth Ørbæk	Rosita Jensen	Jørn Kristensen	Sussie Pedersen	Bjarne Jensen
Great Britain	Frank Duffy	Michael McCreadie	Tom Killin	Angie Malone	Ken Dickson	Tom Pendreigh
Italy	Egidio Marchese	Andrea Tabanelli	Pierino Gaspard	Rita Dal Monte	Emanuele Spelorzi
Norway	Rune Lorentsen	Geir Arne Skogstad	Paul Aksel Johansen	Lene Tystad	Trine Fissum
Sweden	Jalle Jungnell	Glenn Ikonen	Rolf Johansson	Anette Wilhelm	Bernt Sjöberg	Olle Brudsten, Thomas Wilhelm
Switzerland	Urs Bucher	Manfred Bolliger	Cesare Cassani	Madeleine Wildi	Erwin Lauper
United States	James Pierce	James Joseph	Wes Smith	Danell Libby	Augusto Perez

Round robin standings

Final round robin standings[9]

Key
	Teams to playoffs
	Teams to tiebreaker

Country	Skip	W	L	PF	PA
Canada	Chris Daw	5	2	38	29
Great Britain	Frank Duffy	4	3	40	30
Sweden	Jalle Jungnell	4	3	36	34
Denmark	Kenneth Ørbæk	4	3	34	34
Norway	Rune Lorentsen	4	3	44	37
Switzerland	Urs Bucher	3	4	33	32
Italy	Egidio Marchese	2	5	28	43
United States	James Joseph	2	5	25	39

Round robin results

All times are local (UTC+1).[10]

Summary

Team									Record
Canada		6–3	7–6	5–3	7–6	4–5	5–1	4–5	5–2
Denmark	3–6		3–5	5–4	7–3	2–10	8–2	6–4	4–3
Great Britain	6–7	5–3		8–5	6–7	7–2	3–4	5–2	4–3
Italy	3–5	4–5	5–8		3–9	7–1	0–14	6–1	2–5
Norway	6–7	3–7	7–6	9–3		4–7	5–4	10–3	4–3
Sweden	5–4	10–2	2–7	1–7	7–4		5–6	6–4	4–3
Switzerland	1–5	2–8	4–3	14–0	4–5	6–5		2–6	3–4
United States	5–4	4–6	2–5	1–6	3–10	4–6	6–2		2–5

Session 1

12 March, 11:00

Draw 1 - Sheet A 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Great Britain (Duffy) 1 0 0 0 1 1 3  Switzerland (Bucher) 0 1 1 2 0 0 4	Draw 1 - Sheet B 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Denmark (Ørbæk) 1 0 2 0 0 0 3  Canada (Daw) 0 1 0 1 3 1 6
Draw 1 - Sheet C 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Sweden (Jungnell) 1 2 2 0 1 0 6  United States (Joseph) 0 0 0 2 0 2 4	Draw 1 - Sheet D 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Italy (Marchese) 0 1 0 0 2 0 3  Norway (Lorentsen) 1 0 3 3 0 2 9

Session 2

12 March, 16:00

Draw 2 - Sheet A 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  United States (Joseph) 0 3 0 0 0 0 3  Norway (Lorentsen) 2 0 2 2 2 2 10	Draw 2 - Sheet B 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Sweden (Jungnell) 0 0 1 0 0 0 1  Italy (Marchese) 2 1 0 2 1 1 7
Draw 2 - Sheet C 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Switzerland (Bucher) 0 0 0 1 0 0 1  Canada (Daw) 0 1 1 0 1 2 5	Draw 2 - Sheet D 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Great Britain (Duffy) 3 1 1 0 0 0 5  Denmark (Ørbæk) 0 0 0 1 1 1 3

Session 3

13 March, 11:00

Draw 3 - Sheet A 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Sweden (Jungnell) 0 0 0 2 2 1 5  Canada (Daw) 2 1 1 0 0 0 4	Draw 3 - Sheet B 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Great Britain (Duffy) 3 0 1 0 0 2 6  Norway (Lorentsen) 0 4 0 1 2 0 7
Draw 3 - Sheet C 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Italy (Marchese) 1 1 0 0 0 2 4  Denmark (Ørbæk) 0 0 2 1 2 0 5	Draw 3 - Sheet D 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Switzerland (Bucher) 0 0 0 1 0 1 2  United States (Joseph) 1 1 1 0 3 0 6

Session 4

13 March, 16:00

Draw 4 - Sheet A 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Denmark (Ørbæk) 0 1 2 1 0 2 6  United States (Joseph) 2 0 0 0 2 0 4	Draw 4 - Sheet B 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Italy (Marchese) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Switzerland (Bucher) 6 1 1 3 1 2 14
Draw 4 - Sheet C 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Great Britain (Duffy) 2 1 1 2 0 1 7  Sweden (Jungnell) 0 0 0 0 2 0 2	Draw 4 - Sheet D 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Norway (Lorentsen) 0 2 3 0 1 0 6  Canada (Daw) 3 0 0 3 0 1 7

Session 5

14 March, 11:00

Draw 5 - Sheet A 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Italy (Marchese) 3 1 0 0 0 1 5  Great Britain (Duffy) 0 0 5 2 1 0 8	Draw 5 - Sheet B 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Canada (Daw) 0 1 0 0 2 1 4  United States (Joseph) 1 0 0 4 0 0 5
Draw 5 - Sheet C 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Denmark (Ørbæk) 1 0 4 1 1 0 7  Norway (Lorentsen) 0 2 0 0 0 1 3	Draw 5 - Sheet D 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Sweden (Jungnell) 0 1 1 2 1 0 5  Switzerland (Bucher) 2 0 0 0 0 4 6

Session 6

14 March, 16:00

Draw 6 - Sheet A 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Switzerland (Bucher) 0 0 0 1 0 1 2  Denmark (Ørbæk) 1 3 2 0 2 0 8	Draw 6 - Sheet B 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Norway (Lorentsen) 0 0 0 2 0 2 4  Sweden (Jungnell) 1 2 1 0 3 0 7
Draw 6 - Sheet C 1 2 3 4 5 6 EE Final  Canada (Daw) 0 4 0 1 0 1 1 7  Great Britain (Duffy) 2 0 1 0 3 0 0 6	Draw 6 - Sheet D 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  United States (Joseph) 0 0 1 0 0 0 1  Italy (Marchese) 1 1 0 1 1 2 6

Session 7

15 March, 11:00

Draw 7 - Sheet A 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Canada (Daw) 2 1 1 0 0 1 5  Italy (Marchese) 0 0 0 2 1 0 3	Draw 7 - Sheet B 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  United States (Joseph) 0 0 2 0 0 0 2  Great Britain (Duffy) 1 1 0 1 1 1 5
Draw 7 - Sheet C 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Norway (Lorentsen) 2 0 0 1 0 2 5  Switzerland (Bucher) 0 2 1 0 1 0 4	Draw 7 - Sheet D 1 2 3 4 5 6 Final  Denmark (Ørbæk) 0 0 2 0 0 0 2  Sweden (Jungnell) 1 2 0 5 1 1 10

Tie-breaker

15 March, 16:00

Sheet A	1	2	3	4	5	6	Final
Norway (Lorentsen)	0	0	1	1	0	2	4
Denmark (Ørbæk)	1	1	0	0	1	0	3

Medal round

	Semifinal
	2	Great Britain (GBR)	7
	3	Sweden (SWE)	3			Gold medal game
						2	Great Britain (GBR)	4
	Semifinal				1	Canada (CAN)	7
	1	Canada (CAN)	5
	4	Norway (NOR)	4			Bronze medal game
						3	Sweden (SWE)	10
						4	Norway (NOR)	2

Semi-finals

17 March, 11:00

Sheet B	1	2	3	4	5	6	Final
Canada (Daw)	0	1	1	0	2	1	5
Norway (Lorentsen)	1	0	0	3	0	0	4

Sheet D	1	2	3	4	5	6	Final
Great Britain (Duffy)	3	0	1	0	2	1	7
Sweden (Jungnell)	0	1	0	2	0	0	3

Bronze Medal Game

17 March, 16:00

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	Final
Sweden (Jungnell)	2	3	0	0	2	3	10
Norway (Lorentsen)	0	0	1	1	0	0	2

Gold Medal Game

18 March, 11:00

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	Final
Canada (Daw)	2	0	1	0	3	1	7
Great Britain (Duffy)	0	3	0	1	0	0	4

See also

• Curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics

References

General

• "Results Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games Wheelchair curling mixed". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 20 April 2010.

Specific

1. "Curling at the Paralympics". World Curling Federation. Retrieved 22 April 2002.
2. "Sport Profiles, Wheelchair Curling". Australian Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 17 February 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
3. "Wheelchair Curling on the Paralympic Winter Stage" (PDF). World Curling Federation. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
4. "About Wheelchair Curling". World Curling Federation. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
5. "GB announces strong curling team for Winter Paralympic Games". British Paralympic Committee. 30 October 2005. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
6. Doug Gillon (28 February 2006). "Ready, willing and able quintet curling for gold Scottish rink are GB's strongest medal contenders at Paralympics, says Doug Gillon". The Herald. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
7. "Turin welcomes Winter Paralympics". BBC Sport. 10 March 2006. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
8. "Canada take GOLD at Torino Paralympics". wheelchaircurling.com. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
9. "Wheelchair Curling – Competition summary" (PDF). Torino 2006 Paralympic Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2006. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
10. "Schedules and Results – Wheelchair Curling". Torino 2006 Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 29 August 2006. Retrieved 12 October 2012.

External links

• Torino 2006
• Torino 2006 Paralympic Games (English)
• ParalympicSport.TV
• International Paralympic Committee
• Results from the World Curling Federation