Janice "Jan" Betker (born July 19, 1960, in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city populatio ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

curler. Betker is best known for playing third on the

Sandra Schmirler Sandra Marie Schmirler, (June 11, 1963 – March 2, 2000) was a Canadian curler who captured three Canadian Curling Championships (Scott Tournament of Hearts) and three World Curling Championships. Schmirler also skipped (captained) her Cana ...

rink that won three world championships and an Olympic gold medal in the 1990s. Following Schmirler's death from cancer in 2000, Betker replaced her as the team's skip. In 2019, Betker was named the greatest Canadian female

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers.

Curling career

As part of the Schmirler team Betker won 3 Canadian

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

championships in 1993, 1994, and 1997. As well the team also won 3 world championships in 1993, 1994, and 1997. In 1998 the team won the Gold Medal for curling at the

Nagano Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

. Betker also won a Canadian Mixed Curling Championship in 1984 as the lead for Randy Woytowich. At first Betker refused to skip the team following the death of her longtime skip Schmirler. However, in 2003 Betker took over as skip and took her team to the

2003 Scott Tournament of Hearts The 2003 Scott Tournament of Hearts was held at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener, Ontario from February 15 to 23. The defending champion, Colleen Jones won the right to represent "Canada" and she would go on to win her third stra ...

. The team finished fourth overall. In 2005, at the

Canada Cup of Curling The Canada Cup (branded as the Home Hardware Canada Cup for sponsorship reasons, and also referred to as the Canada Cup of Curling) is a major men's and women's curling championship in Canada. It is organized by Curling Canada and is one of its ma ...

, Betker and her team placed second. However this showing was still enough to win them a spot at the 2005 Canadian Olympic Trials in Halifax as the winner of the event,

Shannon Kleibrink Shannon Kleibrink (born October 7, 1968 in Norquay, Saskatchewan) is a retired Canadian curler from Okotoks, Alberta. She and her team of third Amy Nixon, second Glenys Bakker, lead Christine Keshen and alternate Sandra Jenkins represented C ...

already had won an Olympic Trial berth. Betker finished 4-5 at the event with Kleibrink the eventual winner. Betker returned to the national championships in 2007.

Joan McCusker Joan McCusker (born June 8, 1965 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan as Joan Elizabeth Inglis) is a Canadian curler and Olympic gold medallist. Career McCusker's greatest successes in curling came during the years she played second on the team of Sand ...

, who had played second for both Schmirler and Betker retired from competitive curling and was replaced by her sister, Nancy Inglis. Sherry Linton, former third, joined Jolene McIvor's rink for the 2006-2007 season and was replaced by newcomer, Lana Vey. Betker's team made it all the way to the final before losing to

Kelly Scott Kelly Scott (born June 1, 1977 in Winnipeg, Manitoba as Kelly Lynn Mackenzie) is a Canadian curler from Kelowna, British Columbia. Career 1995–2005 Scott won the 1995 Canadian Junior Curling Championships and the 1995 World Junior Curling Ch ...

. After the season, Betker announced she was "taking a break" from curling. She returned for three

World Curling Tour The World Curling Tour (WCT) is a group of curling bonspiels featuring the best male, female, and mixed doubles curlers in the world. History The World Curling Tour was founded by former World Champion Ed Lukowich, with later assistance from John ...

events in 2008-09 and one in 2011-12, but has not curled competitively since. In 2017, Betker stopped curling entirely.

Personal life

She is an administrator with Laurie Artiss The Pin People.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Betker, Jan 1960 births Living people Canadian women curlers Olympic curlers of Canada Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in curling Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Canadian people of German descent Curlers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Curlers from Regina, Saskatchewan World curling champions Canadian women's curling champions Canadian mixed curling champions Canada Cup (curling) participants