One of the best parts about the Olympics is learning about new people. Every four years we get a batch of Olympians with unique stories and interesting personalities who participate in sports that we are completely oblivious to for most of, if not all of the 47 months in between the games.
In addition to the athletes we also have all the people behind the scenes who make the games work. When you watch on TV you probably don't notice the dozens of people doing synchronized leaf blowing on the ski jump. That is the good stuff right there.
And now we have the chief ice technician who walks backwards spraying water on the curling ice so the stones don't stick. Here's Mark Callan explaining how they make the ice look like that and what they have to do between every match to make sure that the curlers have ideal conditions.
"If we didn't sprinkle water on, the stone would stick." 🥌
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) February 8, 2026
🧊 The process of preparing the Olympic curling ice is far more detailed than you may have imagined. Here's ice technician Mark Callan to explain it.#Olympics #WinterOlympics @WorldCurling pic.twitter.com/3JI4sjpL90
Who doesn't love some good sandwich construction? And the chief ice technician has assistants running the ice boss. And then he does that neat little walk with the incredible wrist work that evenly distributes the water.
Of course, once they saw how interested people online were with the curling ice master they stuck a camera on him and turned up the microphones so you could see and hear every swish.
It's skill. It's art. It's how the ice is prepared for Olympic curling! 🎨🥌#Olympics #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/ICRlPeQnLn
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) February 9, 2026
This is as pure as sports can get.
More Winter Olympics on Sports Illustrated
- President of U.S. Nordic Combined Says Not to Boycott Men Over Women's Exclusion
- Lindsey Vonn Had Classy Message for USA’s Breezy Johnson After Olympics Crash
- Vonn Crashes, Breezy and U.S. Skaters Win Gold
- Olympics Organizers Investigating Why So Many Medals Are Breaking This Year
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Curling Ice Master First Interesting New Guy of 2026 Winter Olympics.
