'Ice Cube' is curling's coolest hot spot

"The venue here is fantastic. The Ice Cube. Well done, China. Really good job. It's so nice to play here. It's one of the nicest venues we've ever played in our lives," Canada's Olympic champion curler John Morris said after a mixed doubles game on Feb 4.

"I wanted to say how special it feels for us. It's my first time in Beijing and it feels really, really awesome to play in such a wonderful venue."

However, the idea of setting sheets of ice above a hollow swimming pool for curling, a sport that requires an extremely even and stable field of play, had raised some eyebrows from the international governing body at the very beginning.

"Obviously, you think, how could you change a swimming pool into a curling venue," Caithness admitted. "In our sport we must have a very level floor. We cannot have any movement."

After visiting Beijing regularly in the lead-up to the Games to witness the transformation and observe the successful operation of test events, Caithness and her colleagues quickly got behind the sustainable project.

"To bring this iconic Water Cube into the Ice Cube has been really technically difficult and they have done an outstanding job," said Caithness, who also attended swimming competitions at the same venue during the 2008 Summer Games.

"They have managed to do the best floor we've ever had. So I cannot compliment the Chinese people enough. We've had no complaints from the athletes. They love the venue. So all is good."

Built at the underground space to the south of the aquatics center's competition hall, the Ice Cube Ice Sports Center, a training facility during the Winter Olympics, will open to the public all year long and host workshop and training programs guided by the World Curling Academy as a new legacy of the dual Olympic venue, according to Beijing State-owned Assets Management Co.

"We will bring major curling competitions to China, build up professional, organizational and operational systems and train specialists in order to provide solid talent support for sustainable improvement of curling as a sport and as an industry," said Zhang Jie, general manager of the National Aquatics Center's operation team.