Curling trousers are fit for a king
25/02/2010
Norway’s men’s curling team, who are Olympic champion hopefuls, turned heads because of their play at the Games in Vancouver, but also because of their apparel, specifically their trousers.
The team—Thomas Ulsrud, Christoffer Svae, Torger Nergaard and Haavard Vad Petersson—wore harlequin-style trousers, with diamonds in the Norwegian national colours (red, white and blue) to a practice session before the start of the Games and, after winning a warm reception from the audience in Vancouver and back home, as well as approval from the Olympic authorities, decided to stick with them.
Popularity grew and by the time the curling competition had reached its final stages, the trousers had a Facebook page dedicated to them with almost 400,000 friends.
The trousers come from golf apparel firm Loudmouth and were based on a design that two-time Major winner John Daly has worn on championship courses. Curling attire has traditionally been more sober, but the Norwegian team has done its best to change that.
As the competition drew to a close, team skip, Thomas Ulsrud, commented: “When we put on these pants, we thought ‘hey, it’s the Olympics, but let’s try to have some fun along the way’. So we have had great fun, It’s been a great story for us so far.”
This sense of fun seemed to infect the audience at the Games, with Norway’s current king, Harald V, no exception when he travelled to Vancouver to watch at the rinkside. He met the team in private afterwards and they presented him with a pair of the special trousers.
The chief executive of US-based Loudmouth, Larry Jackson, told media that his company had been overwhelmed by requests for the trousers, the company’s Golf Dixie model, and was “scrambling to get shipments out”. He said a quarter of the orders had come from Scandinavia.
Mr Jackson travelled to Canada to watch the trousers in action. He told local media afterwards: “I found it hilarious. It was so funny to see seven teams with black pants and one wearing ours and beaming like the sun.”
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