For the first time in an Olympic track eight countries seek gold in the curling of couples
Matt and Becca Hamilton, of the United States team, in Pyeongchang. Aaron Favila AP
The brotherhood won the marriage. At least in Pyeongchang . The brothers Matt and Becca Hamilton, who represent the United States, have won this Thursday by 9-3 to the Russian team made up of the married couple Anastasia Bryzgalova and Alexander Krushelnitskiy in the doubles mixed curling. A sport that premieres the mixed modality for the first time on an Olympic track in these Winter Games that started on Wednesday and will end on February 25.
"Definitely the strongest family bond is ours ... I can not divorce my sister, "had said in the previous Matt Hamilton, provoking the laughter of Becca and everyone present at the press conference. Your forecast did not fail. The Americans started strongly winning 3-0 in the first heat and at no time in the game they were at a disadvantage. We must remember that the Russian couple compete under neutral flag and without a hymn for the sanction of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to the Russian Olympic Committee for the doping of more than 1,000 Russian athletes in Sochi .
There are not many Olympic sports that have mixed modality. In the Winter Games you can see in the figure skating, in the luge (downhill sledding), in the Nordic combined (ski jumping and cross-country skiing) and in the biathlon (cross-country skiing and rifle shooting). In summer, there are tennis, badminton, horse riding and sailing. That is, in only 9 sports of a total of 56 if the winter and summer are added. This would be equivalent to 16%. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in June last year that there will be more mixed sports at the next 2022 Tokyo Games. They will be in relays of athletics, in swimming, in archery, in judo and in table tennis. "Our goal is to promote gender equality and this is an important step for that," the IOC sports director explained at the time.
Spain will not have representatives of mixed curling in Pyeongchang after failing to qualify after being eliminated in the second round of the Canadian World Cup held last year. Being the first time that mixed curling is present in the Olympic Games, the available places were very few: only eight for 43 countries. "At first it's a bit difficult to play with a family member because what you have at home takes you to the ice and vice versa," confesses Irantzu Garc�a, who along with his brother Gontzal are the main national references of mixed curling. "Although after several years together, you learn to leave the house at home, the ice on the ice, and manage well," he says. Matt and Becca Hamilton agree with him.
