Professional sports and technology are often at betting odds , but the latest athletic scandal has nothing to do withsuper suitsor performance - heighten drugs ; no , this one ’s about brooms . Curling purists are raising a din over high - tech heather ina controversythat ’s being address , predictably , “ Broomgate . ”
Curling is a relatively novel addition to the Olympian sports family , and one of the most alien , at least to many Americans . The canonic assumption is sort of similar to that of bocci or dart , in that players set about to get a projectile ( in this cause , a large , smooth I. F. Stone ) into a target zona . But unlike bocce balls or flit , curling stones have escorts . Two sweeper scurry ahead of the rock , smoothing the jolting ice with their brooms for guide its direction .
Professional curlers must be dextrous , skilled , and have a solid grasp of thelaws of physics . Or at least that used to be the shell . Now , say disparager , fancy futurist brooms are making it possible to buy a win . Unlike traditional brooms , the newFirebolt — er , icePad — scratches away at the chalk ’s pebbled Earth’s surface , essentially sanding down a sweet flight for a gliding stone .
" It direct a lot of the accomplishment away from the throwers and put it in the hands of the carpet sweeper and the person that was call off the expanse , " former Olympic gold - decoration curler Brad GushuetoldNPR . “ And really it ’s just tolerate top player too much control to the point where it was in reality unmanageable to miss some shots on line . "
Gushue is just one of many player and officials concern about the first-rate - broom technology . " You really should n’t be able-bodied to steer a stone down the sail . That ’s not loop , " champion roller Emma Miskewsaidin theOttawa Citizen .
The World Curling Federation ( WCF ) concord . During the 2015/2016 time of year , next - propagation brooms like the icePad were banned , but this was a stopgap measure . To determine if the brooms really did head to an unjust advantage , the WCF and the National Resource Council of Canada convene anofficial summitto subject the new brooms to rigorous testing . The results of those tests will be used to blueprint new prescribed rule for the next time of year .
Surprisingly , this isnot the first scandalto shake up the world of competitive curling .
