Olympics-Curling-Curlers wait in traffic, walk to stadium after heavy snowfall

By Aadi Nair

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Heavy snowfall in Cortina turned Olympic curlers into hikers on Thursday, as some teams abandoned their transport and trudged through the snow to reach the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium after traffic ground to a halt in the Dolomite town.

Tabitha Peterson's United States team, who beat Switzerland 7-6 to book their spot in the semi-finals, were able to make their game on time, but it was not easy.

"We had to grab a taxi and then get out halfway through and walk in the snow. But we made it in time," the team's lead Taylor Anderson-Heide said.

"It probably took like an hour longer. We were okay. We got here an hour early, so we were still good. We like to leave nice and early."

It was nothing new for Anderson-Heide's teammate Cory Thiesse, who also had to walk to the stadium earlier this month when she was playing in the mixed doubles alongside Korey Dropkin.

"Before Korey and I played, I think it was the gold medal game, the same thing happened. We just got off the bus and walked down the hill," said Thiesse, who won silver in the mixed doubles.

"We did the same thing today. In these scenarios, you just roll with the punches and expect unexpected things to happen. I'm really proud of us for not letting it kind of affect us at all."

Organisers moved back the final session of women's round-robin games, as well as the men's semi-finals later on Thursday, by 30 minutes to account for the travel issues.

"Obviously, the game was delayed, some teams didn't even make it for practice, but it was great of the officials to recognise that," said Canada skip Rachel Homan, whose team were stuck in a bus for an hour before they qualified for the semis with a win over South Korea.

"It's not fun. We tried to leave early and the bus that we tried to get on had already left. We tried to get on an earlier bus, but you can't predict an hour in the snow."

Canada coach Heather Nedohin found some humour in the situation, saying: "I think the ski athletes are thinking, 'it's an indoor sport and you're delayed by snow? How does that work for you guys?'.

"It was a winter wonderland."