Google has launched its animated Doodle “Curling 2026” on its homepage to celebrate the Winter Olympic Games, which will run from Friday, February 6 to February 22. The Games, also known as Milano Cortina 2026, are being hosted by Italy.
The Doodle features an animated curling player sliding a stone forward. The artwork incorporates the letter “G,” while the two “O”s contain the animation, followed by the remaining letters “gle.”
What is Curling?
Curling is the game with ice, rocks, sweeping and yelling. Each game starts with a handshake and the coin flips (like in Cricket) to decide who goes first. Two teams of four people take turns with throwing 44 pounds stone sheet whites, which targets a 12-foot house.
The 12 feet house has a two circle with a distance of 150 feet away from each other, each team throw eight rocks, and the team which bring rocks to the centre after the all the rocks are thrown red line of the circle score the points.
Each team has a captain, called skip that throws the rock. Stones are delivered with the pre-determined rotation and curled sliding down on the ice, which is why the sport is called curling. Over the course of each end, players can throw guards to guard the house.
Also Read | 2026 Winter Olympics: Britain, Canada, Sweden start as favourites for curling title.
Draws to ty and score or takeouts to remove the opponent's stone. The skip then spends the rest of the time yelling like a crazy person, but what they are actually doing is EMPHATICALLY advising their players to brush the ice in front of the stone. Brushing can change the speed and direction of the shot.
After each team throws its 8 stones, the team closest to the centre of the house will score. Or If they have more than one rock closer than. The other team counts as well. Once all of the ends have been played. The team that has the most points wins.
2026 Winter Olympics
This year, the Winter Olympics is hosted by Italy at Milan’s San Siro stadium. The games will be played for two weeks and conclude on February 23 with a closing ceremony in Verona. Several sports with packed schedules, including curling and ice hockey, begin a couple of days before the opening ceremony. Ice hockey will be the final event of the Games with the men’s gold-medal game.