COVID-19 robs Olympic curlers of beloved social culture

By KRISTEN GELINEAU
Associated Press

Curling is a sport built around closeness. It starts with the pregame handshakes between opponents and goes to the traditional postgame drinking sessions where the winners typically buy the losers a round. That tradition all but vanished after the coronavirus emerged and curlers at the socially distanced Beijing Olympics are unlikely to be sharing beers. The necessity of distance imposed by COVID-19 has caused particular angst throughout the curling community.