GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) – Long before her frightening birth, before the awful moments when everyone wondered if she would survive, before anyone knew how tough she could be, Ailsa Polo’s destiny was linked to an isle of granite.
Both her parents were curlers, members of a tight-knit sport where an intense reverence for the game tends to bleed over into the players’ personal lives. And so it was only natural that Joe and Kristin Polo decided to name their future daughter Ailsa, after the Scottish island where the granite that makes curling rocks is mined.
The Polos couldn’t have foreseen how fortuitous her name would be.
Today, Joe Polo finds himself in Pyeongchang, competing on the U.S. Olympic curling team in what would normally be the highest-stress moment of an athlete’s life. And yet he is calm. Medal or not, he says, this is just a game. Ailsa was the real achievement.
The story of Ailsa began when the Polos were in high school. They met (they think) at the local curling club in Bemidji, Minnesota, the curling capital of the U.S. Though they were fast friends, they didn’t start dating until college, when Joe mustered up the courage to send Kristin an invite to dinner via AOL Instant Messenger. She accepted, and their bond was sealed.