By Aadi Nair
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 17 (Reuters) – When Lukas Klima and his Czech Republic team erupted in celebration after beating Germany on Tuesday, you could be forgiven for thinking they had just clinched Olympic gold.
It was merely their first win of the competition, coming after six straight defeats, but for Czech curling it was a special milestone – the first-ever Olympic victory for a men’s team from the nation.
“You could see that we were extremely relieved and happy, I don’t remember us ever celebrating so much after one random win,” Klima said after the 9-7 round-robin victory.
“I’m saying random because it did not mean that we were qualifying for something, it was just one win and we were celebrating like we won a world competition! We were just jumping, shouting and being very happy.”
Asked what their win would do for the sport in his home nation, Klima added: “I hope it’s huge, a lot of people at home who do not know curling are watching it, and it has much more spotlight than during the world or European championships.
“The Olympics are completely different in this regard so I hope it will help Czech curling a lot… It’s growing right now, there are two rinks in Prague and two more in two other towns.
“It’s definitely getting better but still, four clubs is nothing if you compare it to Switzerland, Scotland, Canada.”
WORKING FULL TIME
All five curlers on the Czech team have full-time jobs.
Klima and his alternate Radek Bohac are lawyers, their third Marek Cernovsky is a travel agent, the second Martin Jurik works in IT and their lead Lukas Klipa works for a bank.
“Obviously, it’s very tough. Since April, since we qualified for the Olympics, we got a bit more funding which helped us to breathe a little bit,” Klima said.
“But till that moment we were all working full-time, so it’s work, then going to practices, being there and going very late home. We all have wives and families and some of us have kids.
“Qualifying for the Olympics, we could train a bit more, so it’s going in the right direction but it’s all about funding honestly. If we don’t get enough funding we just have to work full-time. Then it’s very hard to train and play.”
The Czech Republic, joint ninth in the standings, next face China on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair; editing by Clare Fallon)
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