Road to the Olympic Games: Canadian curlers' toughest task
Being Olympic champion doesn’t mean you’ll be defending your title
Hosted by veteran broadcasters Scott Russell and Andi Petrillo, Road to the Olympic Games chronicles athletes' journeys on and off the field of play. Here's what to look for on this weekend's show on CBC Television and CBCSports.ca.
The great contradiction inherent in curling is that the best in the world make it look so easy.
The powerful and graceful glides to delivery, the double raise take-outs, the draws to the button and even the sweepers manipulating a rock through a tiny port on the way to a specific resting spot in the distant scoring zone known as the house are just as easy as pie.
- Watch the men's quarter-finals Saturday at 1 p.m. ET (CBC TV, CBCSports.ca)
- Watch the men's final Sunday at 1 p.m. ET (CBC TV, CBCSports.ca.)
- Broadcasters: Bruce Rainnie, Olympic gold medallists Joan McCusker and Kevin Martin, along with Olympic silver medallist Mike Harris.
Until you try it yourself, you can't fully appreciate that this is one of the most subtle and exacting sports on the face of the earth which demands a multitude of skills that only a select few have come to fully grasp.
In addition, as the elite season begins anew with the Grand Slam and the Masters in Okotoks, Alta., there is one truth to this Olympic pursuit which lurks in the background.
Hands down, the toughest thing to do in curling, especially if you're Canadian, is to repeat as gold medallist at the Olympic Games.
In fact, just getting the chance is not guaranteed.
Just because you reign as Olympic champion doesn't mean you'll be allowed to defend your title. Since curling came onto the Olympic program in 1998 at Nagano no team has revisited a trip to the top of the podium with the exception of Sweden's Anette Norberg who won in both Turin in 2006 and Vancouver in 2010.
Defying history
History tells us no Canadian rink has ever made more than one appearance at the Olympics. While skip Kevin Martin took teams to 1992 Albertville, when curling was a demonstration sport, 2002 Salt Lake City, where he won silver, and that gold-medal performance in Vancouver in 2010, he did so with a vastly different lineup on each occasion.
Brad Gushue, of St. John's, N.L., captured gold at the Turin Games in 2006, but didn't even qualify for the Olympic trials leading into the 2010 Vancouver Games.
This inability to build a curling dynasty on the Olympic stage speaks to the depth of competition in Canada, which remains the dominant country in the sport, and also to the changing landscape where so-called "super teams" are constantly fashioned and refined in order to get to and prevail at the Canadian Olympic trials.
The trials take place the December before the Games and have evolved into the best tournament in the world, featuring the finest men's and women's teams in Canada with the victor emerging from a winner-take all-format to have a shot at Olympic glory.
This coming season Jennifer Jones of Manitoba and Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., gyrate towards a date with destiny. They are both Olympic champions who have kept their teams in tact over the course of the quadrennial between Games. But neither is taking anything for granted.
"Men's teams in curling have gotten better and better since 2014, particularly the younger ones and they have made winning for us more difficult," Jacobs said via email. "It's evident they want what we accomplished in 2014 and rightfully so – teams are working very hard and getting really good."
Jacobs eyes Olympic trials
Jacobs has not yet secured his place in the Olympic trials, which will be held in Ottawa at the tail end of 2017, but through the process of accumulating points in the Grand Slam and major tournaments such as the national championships (the Brier), he's confident his foursome, which includes Ryan Fry as well as his cousins E.J. and Ryan Harnden, will get the opportunity to reclaim what has unquestionably become curling's greatest prize - namely the Olympic gold medal.
"We committed to each other 100 per cent after we won gold in Sochi and we've all kept that mindset," Jacobs insisted. "It means being in the best physical shape of our lives, displaying as much passion and intensity as possible and providing amazing entertainment for everyone watching. Open and honest communication on a curling team is key and I believe we have that aspect covered."
That said it will take a Herculean effort for Jacobs and his group to make history in South Korea. The modern game dictates that there is little room for error and it boasts a bevy of ambitious teams who have, for all intents and purposes, professionalized curling.
Jacobs and his group embody an ultra-athletic and demonstrative approach to an ever evolving sport which is distinctly less recreational and unquestionably more about high performance with each passing season.
"One thing is for sure, we want another taste of that Olympic dream and we are going to do everything in our power to make it happen," Jacobs said without hesitation.
"The problem is we will have a lot of great teams in our way. Our team is all about growing the sport, attracting young people to the game and bringing something new to the equation. That's part of our brand now – hopefully we can look back and say we were successful in doing so."
The journey to that end continues with the advent of the high stakes campaign beginning this weekend. At the end of the road may be the chance to turn the toughest trick in curling.
And that, simply put, is to reach the Olympic pinnacle once again in what is often thought of as the great Canadian pastime.