Joan McCusker (born June 8, 1965 in

Yorkton Yorkton is a city located in south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is about 450 kilometres north-west of Winnipeg and 300 kilometres south-east of Saskatoon and is the sixth largest city in the province. As of 2017 the census population of the ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

as Joan Elizabeth Inglis) 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 and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold medallist.

Career

McCusker's greatest successes in curling came during the years she played

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

on the team of

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 ...

(

skip Skip or Skips may refer to: Acronyms * SKIP (Skeletal muscle and kidney enriched inositol phosphatase), a human gene * Simple Key-Management for Internet Protocol * SKIP of New York (Sick Kids need Involved People), a non-profit agency aidin ...

Jan Betker Janice "Jan" Betker (born July 19, 1960, in Regina, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian curler. Betker is best known for playing third on the Sandra Schmirler rink that won three world championships and an Olympic gold medal in the 1 ...

(

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 ...

), and

Marcia Gudereit Marcia Gudereit (born September 8, 1965 as Marcia Schiml) is a Canadian curler. Born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, she was part of Team Schmirler, the women's curling team that won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics. This team is the only 3 ...

(

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

). In 1993, 1994, and 1997 they won the

Scott Tournament of Hearts The Scotties Tournament of Hearts (''french: Le Tournoi des Cœurs Scotties''; commonly referred to as the Scotties) is the annual Canadian women's curling championship, sanctioned by Curling Canada, formerly called the Canadian Curling Associat ...

, the Canadian women's championship, the first Canadian women's team to win multiple times with the same lineup. As the Tournament of Hearts champions McCusker's team went on to represent Canada at the

World Curling Championships The World Curling Championships are the annual world championships for curling, organized by the World Curling Federation and contested by national championship teams. There are men's, women's and mixed doubles championships, as well as men's an ...

three times and won each time. At the

1998 Winter 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 ...

McCusker and the rest of the Schmirler rink represented Canada, defeating Denmark to win the gold medal. The success of the team of Schmirler, McCusker, Betker, and Gudereit came to an abrupt end in 2000 when Schmirler died of cancer. In 2000 McCusker and her teammates were inducted into the

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...

. In 2019 McCusker and her Olympic teammates were named the greatest female Canadian curling team of all time as part of a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers.

Personal life

McCusker grew up with her 6 siblings on a farm near

Saltcoats, Saskatchewan Saltcoats is a town in east-central Saskatchewan near the Manitoba border in Canada. The town's population was 474 in 2011. The town was built in the late 19th century, and its economy was driven by the railway. There is no longer passenger servic ...

. She comes from a family of curlers and her sisters Cathy Trowell and Nancy Inglis have also curled competitively at the provincial and national levels. Her husband Brian is also a curler and is a three time Saskatchewan champion. Joan and Brian have three children. McCusker was an elementary school teacher until 1998, when she quit to focus on her curling and broadcasting career. Since 2001, McCusker has been part of CBC's curling coverage team, working with

Bruce Rainnie Bruce Rainnie is a broadcaster for CBC Sports and was the host (2003 to 2017) of CBC News: Compass, the supper-hour news program on CBCT in Prince Edward Island. He has been with CBC since 1995. Rainnie began his career at CJLS Radio in Yarmout ...

and

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

. She also is a motivational speaker. She currently coaches the

Casey Scheidegger Casey Scheidegger (born January 31, 1988) is a Canadian curler from Lethbridge, Alberta. She is a former provincial junior champion and is currently a skip on the World Curling Tour. Career Juniors Scheidegger won the 2009 Alberta Junior Curlin ...

rink.

References

External links

* 1965 births Canadian women curlers Canadian women's curling champions Curlers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Curlers from Saskatchewan Curling broadcasters Living people Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Olympic curlers of Canada Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in curling Sportspeople from Yorkton University of Saskatchewan alumni World curling champions Canada Cup (curling) participants Canadian curling coaches {{Canada-curling-bio-stub