When Brad Gushue made his Olympic debut 16 years ago, it was one of the bigger surprises in Canadian curling.
The 25-year-old from St. John’s wasn’t expected to win the Canadian Olympic trials that year.
The team had brought on then 50-year-old curling legend Russ Howard to add some experience to the lineup, but expectations were certainly tempered.
Going up against curling juggernauts like Randy Ferbey, Glenn Howard, Kevin Martin and Jeff Stoughton, Gushue was hoping to win a few games. But the team from Newfoundland and Labrador got on a roll in Halifax in December 2005, earning its way to the 2006 Games.
Despite facing adversity, including horrible ice conditions and sickness throughout the week, Gushue, Howard, third Mark Nichols and lead Jamie Korab persevered.
With two members of Brad Gushue’s curling team going to the Olympics for the first time, the others who recall Torino and their gold medal fondly look to give the first time Olympians that feeling. 2:27
They defeated Finland in the final to secure Canada’s first gold medal in men’s curling at the Olympics. Their victory set off parties for months all across Newfoundland and Labrador.
All these years later Gushue, now 41, makes his Olympic return. The lineup, no doubt, is different.
Nichols will be beside Gushue in house once again, but first-time Olympians Geoff Walker and Brett Gallant make up the front end this time around.
The team left Newfoundland and Labrador and flew to Vancouver to isolate three weeks before leaving for Beijing. They didn’t want to take any chances of posting a positive COVID-19 test. Team Gushue arrived at the Olympics on Saturday, four days before their opening game.
It’s been a long and winding journey for Gushue to get back to the Games, and it’s been anything but smooth.
But that wasn’t the case. In fact, it wasn’t until the 2017 Brier in his hometown Gushue would win another major curling event. He’s done a lot a winning since then, though.
Gushue and his team have won three of the last five Briers. They also won the 2017 world championship. But it was the Olympic berth Gushue wanted so badly.
Stiff competition
The level of competition couldn’t be more different from what Gushue faced in 2006. The world was still trying to catch up to Canada when it came to curling during those Olympics. But these Games in the men’s curling event are laced with champions.
John Shuster and his Olympic gold medal team from 2018 are back. Sweden’s five-time world champion skip Nik Edin is making his fourth Olympic appearance.
Defending bronze medallists from Switzerland, Peter de Cruz, is back — de Cruz defeated Kevin Koe in the bronze-medal game four years ago in Pyeongchang.
Bruce Mouat and his foursome from Great Britain are a force to be reckoned with. They won silver at last year’s men’s world curling championship in Calgary. They followed that up by winning every Slam event to close out the season.
The top-four teams after the round robin advance to the semifinals. The two winning teams in those games advance to the Olympic championship.
Gushue opens Wednesday night in Beijing against Denmark, followed by Norway, Switzerland and Sweden to begin the event.
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