With mixed doubles curling at the Ice Cube, the 2022 Winter Olympics are officially underway – USA TODAY

Learn the basics of Olympic curling ahead of the Beijing Winter Games

The Potomac Curling Club teaches the basics of curling strategy and tell you everything you need to know to watch curling in the Olympics.

Jasper Colt and Hank Farr, USA TODAY

BEIJING In 2008, as the Water Cube, it was where U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps won a record eight gold medals.

And Wednesday, as the Ice Cube, it's where the 2022 Winter Olympics officially began.

A full 48 hours before the opening ceremony, curlers from eight countries including the United Stateskicked off the mixed doubles competition at the National Aquatics Center, in what was the first sporting event of the Beijing Games.

The American team of Vicky Persinger and Chris Plys faced Australia in their first round-robin game, squeaking out a6-5 win. And the opportunity to lead off Olympic competition was just as exciting.

"It's kind of nice to be the first, to get the party started," said Persinger, 29."We've been here for several days, and we weren't able to get on the ice until today, actually. So just being out there, and getting to take our masks off and throwing those first few rocks in the game, it made me feel a lot more comfortable. Just kind of the joy of like, this is why we came here."

Plys said that, due in part to travel, it had been about a week and a half since they had been able to practice on the ice, prior to Wednesday's opener.

"We kind of talked about how half the battle to these Olympics is getting here healthy, to a point where we can play," the 34-year-old from Duluth, Minnesota said."It's been less than ideal circumstances, obviously, for everybody. But as the Games continue on and we get some reps in under our belt and find that confidence, I think it'll help us sharpen up down the stretch."

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Wednesday's action lacked some of the typical fanfare of Olympic competitiondue to COVID-19. With the Games being staged in a "closed-loop system," Beijing 2022 organizers had announced that only selectChinese fans would be invited to watch the Games in person and only if they met certain COVID-19 restrictions.

At the Ice Cube, this translated to about 200 fans spread out across six sections of blue seats, and a few dozen more scattered on the side opposite them. Most clapped when host China pulled off a big shot, or won an end. Others waived blue flags adorned with panda Bing Dwen Dwen, the mascot of the Games.

"It's cool, man," Plys said of the atmosphere. "We'll take fans any way we can get them right now. Last time I played in a major competition, there were cardboard cutouts of people in the stands, and that was a bit weird."

Persinger and Plys will return to the ice Thursday with two more round-robin games, against Italy and Norway.

It's a strange quirk of Olympic scheduling, that competition in some events begins before the Olympic flame is officially lit. Two other sports moguls skiing and women's hockey will join curling on the competition schedule Thursday, with the U.S. women facing Finland in their first preliminary game at 8:10 a.m. ET.

The ceremonial start of the Games will come roughly 24 hours later, with the opening ceremony at Beijing's National Stadium, more commonly known as the Bird's Nest. NBC's coverage of the event begins at 6:30 a.m. ET.

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

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With mixed doubles curling at the Ice Cube, the 2022 Winter Olympics are officially underway - USA TODAY