"At present, there are altogether more than 100 people who can play curling in China, some of whom are not professional players or at the lower level," curling official Li Dongyan told the Daily. "Since few people know the sport in China, it's hard to get more people involved."

Perhaps. But that's not what many others will see. They'll see a sport that is apparently so easy to master that you can give a few dozen people a few sheets of ice and a few rocks and within a decade four out of 100 -- that's men and women, don't forget -- can actually beat the best in the world.

Maybe that's just patriotic envy talking. After all, curling is something we've always excelled at, something we claim as our own. Kinda like back in '72, when those Soviets taught us smug Canucks a lesson about playing hockey.