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54-year-old becomes oldest US Olympian to compete in Winter Games
Ski jump way too high. Bobsled *** touch too fast, but curling. There’s just something about curling. I think when you watch it, you’re like, I could do that. I mean, I could do that. Look at the people curling. I could do that, right? Michael Erelik is one of those people, president of the Chesapeake Curling Club on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. You can wear sneakers and walk. You can pretty much curl. Believe the deck shoes, this is no shuffleboard, and there’s *** ton of strategy in it. So, you know, I’ve heard *** lot of people call it like chess on ice. Chess or darts, bull’s eye. What you want to do is get closest to the button. That’s the red bull’s eye, and you’re just *** stone’s throw from knocking the opponent right out of the way to do it. And then the chore turned athletic advantage, the sweeping. Sweeping is really athletic if you do it well. You’ve watched curling. They wear they wear short sleeve shirts and they come in drenched with sweat because they are scrubbing that ice so hard. And by doing that, they can make the stone go *** little bit farther or curl *** little bit less. And the ice, not smooth, but pebbled, which allows for the curling of the stone. As the competition wears on, so too does the ice. From the beginning of the game to the end of the game, the way the stone travels down the ice, how much it curls, how much you have to sweep, the strategy you call, all changes. What never seems to change though is the love for curling. So Team USA not set just yet. The road to Milan Cortina runs through Sioux Falls. That’s where US Olympic team trials will be held in November. On the road to Milan, Cortina, I’m Jason Newton.
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54-year-old becomes oldest US Olympian to compete in Winter Games
Rich Ruohonen has made history as the oldest American man to compete in a Winter Olympics event.Ruohonen, 54, serves as an alternate for the U.S. men’s curling team. After seven ends of play Thursday against Switzerland, the U.S. made a substitution, putting in Ruohonen for lead Aidan Oldenburg.Above video: Curling the surprising challenge on the road to Milan-CortinaHe entered the match with the Americans trailing 8-2. The U.S. added another point but fell to Switzerland in round-robin play.Ruohonen threw the first and second stones for the U.S. in the end, officially breaking the previous record held by Joe Savage, who was 52 when he competed in figure skating at the 1932 Olympics.A personal injury lawyer from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, Ruohonen has competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials every year since 2006. He is a two-time U.S. national champion and a six-time national silver medalist.
Rich Ruohonen has made history as the oldest American man to compete in a Winter Olympics event.
Ruohonen, 54, serves as an alternate for the U.S. men’s curling team. After seven ends of play Thursday against Switzerland, the U.S. made a substitution, putting in Ruohonen for lead Aidan Oldenburg.
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Above video: Curling the surprising challenge on the road to Milan-Cortina
He entered the match with the Americans trailing 8-2. The U.S. added another point but fell to Switzerland in round-robin play.
Ruohonen threw the first and second stones for the U.S. in the end, officially breaking the previous record held by Joe Savage, who was 52 when he competed in figure skating at the 1932 Olympics.
A personal injury lawyer from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, Ruohonen has competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials every year since 2006. He is a two-time U.S. national champion and a six-time national silver medalist.
