Curling, which made its debut in the last Olympic Games, is played between two teams of four players.
The sport originated in Scotland in the 16th Century, though around 90% of the world's players are Canadian these days.
Its basic premise and scoring system is similar to bowls.
Each team takes turns pushing a 42-pound stone along the ice towards a series of concentric circles with the object being to get the stone as close to the innermost circle - the "tee" - as possible.
A team scores a point for each stone that is closer to the tee than their opponent's nearest stone, as long as the stone is within a six-foot (1.83m) radius of the tee, an area known as the "house".
One game consists of 10 "ends." During an end, each team member - always in the same order - delivers two stones.
Other team members sweep frantically with brushes to melt the ice and ease the path of the stone.
After the stone has passed the tee line, opposing team members sweep the ice to try and coax the stone out of the rink.
Once all 16 stones have been delivered, the score is calculated and the scoring team gets to go first on the next end.
The team with the most points at the conclusion of 10 ends is the winner.
The men's and women's tournaments will consist of 10 teams each competing in a round-robin tournament.
The top four teams reach the semi-finals, with the two winners competing for the gold medal.
