Switzerland’s mixed doubles curling team of Yannick Schwaller and Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann picked up a win on Day 1 of competition on Wednesday. But after the extra-ends win, all eyes were on the youngest Schwaller.
Following the victory, Briar walked over to the stands while waving and blowing a kiss to her son, River Schwaller, who is a year-and-a-half old.
Briar's family handed River to her over the railing, and the young athlete naturally gravitated to his mom’s broom, showing curling probably does run in the family.
River pushed the broom across the carpet while donning a red Switzerland jersey similar to the ones his parents wore in their opening-day win.
"I got my son after the game, cuddled him, he wanted to get down pretty quickly,” Briar told Reuters. “He saw the curling broom, took it and held it like a rock star and threw off the whole entire show.
"It was just really nice to see him again after the first few days. We haven't seen him since we've been here, so for us, it was more just enjoying the family time. We didn't realize that the cameras were there and that it would go viral and things happened. I guess he's known as the 'Curling Baby' now."
Before the start of competition, Yannick said he was most excited about getting to share his third Olympics with his son.
“It’s really cool that our son — when he learns to talk — he can say that my parents were together at the Olympics, which is really cool,” Yannick said in an Instagram video.
“It means a lot to us that he will be there. Even if you lose and you see him, you can’t be mad. It’s the best medicine against depression, I would say.”
"It's really nice that we can experience this whole journey as a family and take on these memories for a lifetime," Briar said on Thursday.
Not to be outdone, Luke Gallant, the two-and-a-half-year-old son of Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, also greeted his parents after their win on Thursday over Norway. Luke used his VIP seats as an opportunity to practice his photography skills.
Peterman said before the start of the Games she was most looking forward to being able to share her Olympic experience with her family.
“I think we’re most excited for having our family there and getting to share this whole experience with not only our son but our parents and my siblings,” Peterman said. “They weren’t really able to able to be involved with our whole Olympic journey in Beijing, so really looking forward to that.”
It’s obvious why River would gravitate towards curling. If he were to one day make it to the Olympics, he’d be a third generation Olympian on both sides of his family. Briar’s father won Olympic gold in 1998 for Switzerland, and her mother, Janet, was a member of the women’s 1992 world championship bronze medal winning team.
Yannick also skips Switzerland’s men’s curling team and plays with his brother, Kim. His dad and uncle both won bronze medals for Switzerland’s men’s curling team at the 2002 Olympics.
Yannick said they’ve been taking River to practices and let him run around on the ice, but added: “The thing is, if we take him off the buggy when he watches practice then he doesn't want to go back. He wants to touch the rocks and push them around and runs around on the ice.”
"That's too much pressure,” Yannick said when asked if he wants to get his son into curling. “But maybe if I play until the 2038 Games in Switzerland, he can be my sweeper."
(Reuters contributed reporting to this story.)