Why are they screaming? Olympic curling is simpler than you think.

Curling is more popular in the United States than you might think.

Around 100,000 Americans try curling every year, and the sport is picking up steam even in states like Montana. Now, after John Shuster took home gold in men's curling in Pyeongchang in 2018, the United States will send teams in all three categories to Italy for the 2026 games: men's, women's, and mixed.

How is it played?

Olympic curling rules are not too hard to follow. Each match consists of 10 rounds, called "ends." An end can be considered similar to an inning in baseball. Teams throw eight stones per end, looking to get their stones into the center of the bull's-eye-like target at the other side of the rink, known as the "house."

The center of the house is called the "button," the innermost circle. The team with a stone closest to the button gets the points; every stone that is closer to the button than the opponent's closest stone garners a point too.

For example, in the image below, the yellow team would get two points because it has two stones closer to the center than the red team's closest stone.

Teams are allowed to knock each other's stones out of position in any way they see fit using their own stones.

Only one team gets points in each round, and after all 10 rounds, the final score is calculated.

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Photo by Liu Xu/Xinhua via Getty Images

Why are they screaming?

Viewers may not notice that when a curler launches a stone, he or she is twisting (or curling) the stone in attempt to curve it into position in the house while avoiding other stones.

As this is happening, the thrower is likely yelling commands at his teammates. Viewers may hear phrases like "hurry" or "hurry hard!" in addition to simple commands like "yes!" or "no!"

This is an attempt to get the teammates, or sweepers, to sweep the ice in front of the stone in order to melt the ice with friction to make the stone travel farther. Viewers will notice the most intense sweeping when a stone is moving too slowly or if the sweepers are trying to get a few extra inches to hit the button.

The only differences in mixed doubles curling, where teams are composed of one man and one woman, are fewer ends and fewer stones per end. Mixed curling has just eight ends instead of 10 and five stones per end instead of eight.

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How to watch

The United States will field teams in all three categories in 2026. Sweden is defending gold in men's and Great Britain in women's, while host country Italy is the reigning champion in mixed.

Team USA will likely be considered an underdog across the board, as the team does not break the top five in the international rankings in any category.

Mixed doubles are under way before the official opening ceremonies for the Olympics. The first matches aired at 1:05 p.m. ET, Wednesday, February 4, on NBC. The first U.S. match will be at 4:05 a.m. ET on Thursday, when the mixed team faces Norway.

The men's category starts on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 1:05 p.m. ET, when Team USA goes up against the Czech Republic.

Women's will start the next day, Thursday, Feb. 12, and the American women will play against South Korea at 3:05 a.m. ET.

Although Scotland is the world No.1 in both men's and mixed doubles, the team competes under the flag of Great Britain at the winter Olympics. This team will likely be the favorite in those categories.

Canada, Switzerland, and Sweden are also mainstays as medalists in men's, while South Korea, China, and Japan are also in the mix for women's.

Mixed doubles has just two Olympic games under its belt since being included in 2018; Norway is the only country to medal both times.

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