Curling Shocker: U.S. Expected to Lose

Vancouver, British Columbia -- Canada beat the U.S. in curling Monday, officially killing the American team's hopes of making the medal podium in a second straight Games.

The news came as little surprise to many people—least of all the U.S. Curling team.

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Chris Plys of the U.S. throws a stone during their men's curling round robin match against France.

"We never really got on one path," says Rick Patzke, the chief operating officer for USA Curling, who said there was never any cohesive plan in place to win and that the training ahead of these Games was essentially a write-off. "There wasn't total buy-in," he says. By the time the Olympics came around, Mr. Patzke adds, USA Curling was resigned to the fact that it was really preparing for 2014. "We started with Sochi and we worked backward," he says.

How did an entire U.S. team end up taking a mulligan on the Olympics?

 

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Instead of assembling an all-star team of the best curlers in the country—the way some nations do—curling clubs around the U.S. compete in Olympic trials to determine who will make it to the Olympics. In the past, that system has worked—it produced a bronze medal in the 2006 Olympics.

But in the past four years, curling's popularity has grown world-wide, and international competition has picked up. Before these Games, China sent a team to Canada to learn the sport, and Scandinavian countries had begun to improve. At the same time, participation in the U.S. has stayed somewhat stagnant.

Mr. Patzke said that about 18 months ago, USA Curling reached out to the United States Olympic Committee looking for support. "We said we know that we're falling behind here, we better get on the stick."

Faces of Curling

See some of the men's and women's curlers in action in Vancouver.

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A look at some of the men's and women's curlers in action at the Vancouver Games.

When the U.S. team, led by captain John Shuster, won the Olympic trials, the USOC provided more support than ever to get them ready for the Olympics. They paid for training, sports psychologists and helped the players get by without working full-time jobs so they could practice for the Olympics.

But in giving them the money, they insisted that USA Curling embark on an ambitious plan to change the culture and structure of the national team. USA Curling enthusiastically embraced the idea, although there was one little problem—there's no way the plan could bear fruit in time to put a decent team on the ice in Vancouver.

After losing to Germany, Switzerland and Denmark in these Games, the U.S. team benched its captain, Mr. Shuster, in favor of a 22-year-old alternate named Chris Plys. It was a move by coaches who wanted to prepare for the future.

"That experience was invaluable in helping me prepare for 2014," said Mr. Plys.

The positives made by USA Curling have done nothing to slow the angry fan mail Mr. Patzke has been receiving. But he says he has found a way to spin that into a positive.

"It shows people actually care," he said.

Write to Reed Albergotti at reed.albergotti@wsj.com

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