Curling club in Blaine named U.S. Olympic training site
A Blaine curling club has been designated as an official U.S. Olympic training site.
The United States Olympic Committee on Monday announced that Four Seasons Curling Club will be one of 18 official training sites across the nation. The centers prepare and develop Olympic athletes and host major national and international events, among them the Olympic Trials.
John Benton, director of curling operations for Four Seasons, said the designation will be a big honor for the curling center and its dryland training facility at Blaine's Fogerty Arena.
The iconic Olympic symbol will be placed on the building.
"It also creates some opportunity for us to actually become more of a development hub and a way to fill the pipeline for years to come in curling," said Benton, a 2010 Olympian.
Since the club opened two years ago, the nation's top curlers have been training there, he said.
The next winter Olympics will be held in South Korea in 2018.
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