one in Nagano -- and it's looking more and more like maybe that's the new normal in women's curling.

Former TSN curling analyst Ray Turnbull, who was one of the original pioneers in helping to bring curling to Asia with the coaching clinics he ran in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s, says in our desire as a nation to grow the sport internationally, Canada may have unintentionally been a bit too generous for our own good.

Turnbull points, for instance, to an open-door policy in Canada that allows international teams like China's Bingyu Wang -- the 2009 world champion -- to essentially move to Canada every year, hire a Canadian coach (they have former Randy Ferbey lead Marcel Rocque with them this season) and play in our major tourevents all season long, gaining invaluable experience.

"The biggest thing is exactly these kinds of events where these international teams get to come here, play on our ice conditions and get the kind of competition and conditions they never get at home," Turnbull said while taking in some of the action at Fort Rouge, where nine of the 32 teams entered were from either Europe or Asia.

"It's funny how it's turned out in a way. Everyone wanted the sport to grow and this was the only way it was going to happen. But yes, now the tables have turned a little bit on Canada, haven't they?"

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