CURlInG’s OlYMPIC hIsTORY In Salt Lake City in 2002, curling was a medal sport on the Olympic program for the third time. The U.S. men, led by Tim Somerville, finished seventh, while the women’s team, skipped by Kari Erickson, missed a bronze medal by just a few rocks. The Pete Fenson rink based out of Bemidji, Minn., won U.S. curling’s first Olympic medal when the team defeated Great Britain to win the bronze medal at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy. The U.S. women’s team, led by Cassie Johnson, struggled in its opening games and finished eighth overall. Canada’s Brad Gushue rink would capture the men’s elusive gold medal defeating Finland, while the Anette Norberg team from Sweden added to its collection of medals by defeating Switzerland for the gold. In 2010 at the Olympic Games in Vancouver, 2006 Olympic bronze medalist John Shuster and three-time Olympian Debbie McCormick (1998, 2002, 2010) skipped their teams at the 5,000-seat Vancouver Olympic Center. It was a tough week as the teams battled through the round robin. Unfortunately, both would finish in 10th place and out of playoff contention. Canada’s Kevin Martin rink would capture the men’s gold over Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud. On the women’s side, Sweden’s Anette Norberg rink came from behind to overtake Canada’s Cheryl Bernard to repeat as women’s Olympic champions. In the bronze-medal matches, Switzerland’s Ralph Stoeckli outlasted Sweden’s Niklas Edin in the men’s game while China won its first Olympic medal in curling when Bingyu Wang defeated Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott. Curling was officially a demonstration sport three times, but there were also “domestic exhibitions” (host country participants only) in 1948 (St. Moritz, Switzerland) and 1964 (Innsbruck, Austria).
Year Gold skip 2010 CAN Kevin Martin 2006 CAN Brad Gushue 2002 NOR Pal Trulsen 1998 SUI Patrick Hurliman 1992* SUI Urs Dick 1988* NOR Eigel Ramsfjell 1932* CAN William Burns 1924 ENG Col. Robertson-Aikman *denotes demonstration sport
silver bronze UsA NOR SUI 10 FIN USA 3 CAN SUI 7 CAN NOR 4 NOR USA 3 SUI CAN 4 USA N/A 2 SWE FRA ** ** did not qualify for competition
U.s. OlYMPIC TEAMs second Jeff Isaacson Nicole Joraanstad
lead John Benton Natalie Nicholson
Alternate Chris Plys Tracy Sachtjen
Joe Polo Jessica Schultz Myles Brundidge Stacey Liapis Myles Brundidge Debbie Henry
John Shuster Maureen Brunt John Gordon Ann Swisshelm John Gordon Lori Mountford
Scott Baird Courtney George Don Barcome Jr. Joni Cotten Tim Solin Stacey Liapis
Demonstration sport: Bud Somerville Tom Locken Carla Casper
Bill Strum Bob Christman Lori Mountford
Bob Nichols Bill Strum
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OlYMPIC hIsTORY
OlYMPIC REsUlTs – MEn