Joni Cotten (born May 21, 1953, in

North Chicago, Illinois North Chicago is a city in Lake County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 30,759 at the 2020 census making it the 2nd largest city by population in the county, after Waukegan. North Chica ...

) is an American curler from

Mount Prospect, Illinois Mount Prospect is a village in Elk Grove and Wheeling Townships in Cook County, Illinois, about northwest of downtown Chicago, and approximately 4 miles north of O'Hare International Airport. As of the 2020 census, the village had a total popu ...

Curling career

In 1997 Cotten won the United States Women's Championship while playing

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 ...

for

Patti Lank Patti Lank (born July 4, 1964) is an American curler from Lewiston, New York. Career Patti Lank began curling at the age of eleven and competed at her first US National Championships in 1994 and her team placed fourth. She has since gone on to ...

. As national champions they represented the United States at the 1997 World Women's Championship, finishing 7th. Cotten again won the US Championship in 2000, this time playing second for

Amy Wright Amy Wright is an American actress and former model. She has appeared in such films as ''The Deer Hunter'', ''Breaking Away'', '' The Accidental Tourist'', ''Hard Promises'', ''Crossing Delancey'', and ''Miss Firecracker''. She is the widow of ...

. At the 2000 World Championship the US women tied for 6th place with Germany and Denmark. At the 2001 World Championship Cotten played as alternate with skip

Kari Erickson Kari Erickson (born December 18, 1971, as Kari Liapis) is an American curling, curler and Olympian. Career Erickson started curling in 1988 and had a successful junior career, winning the Minnesota State Junior Championship five years in a row, ...

Debbie McCormick Deborah McCormick ( Henry, born January 8, 1974) is an American curler from Rio, Wisconsin. Although born in Canada, McCormick moved to Madison, Wisconsin when she was very young. McCormick is a World Champion and four-time Olympian. Career M ...

Stacey Liapis Stacey Liapis (born August 19, 1974) is an American curler from Bemidji, Minnesota. She played much of her career on teams with her sister Kari Erickson. She is a two-time Olympian, in 1998 and 2002, and a two-time United States National Champio ...

, and

Ann Swisshelm Ann Swisshelm (born March 9, 1968) is a curler from Chicago. Swisshelm represented the United States in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She has also been known as Ann Swisshelm Silver. Career Swisshelm began curli ...

. The team finished 6th. Cotten continued to play alternate for team Erickson as they won the 2001 United States Olympic Trials and competed as Team USA at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. At the Olympics they finished 4th, losing to Team Switzerland in the semifinals and Team Canada in the bronze medal match. Cotten played in her 4th World Championship in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, as alternate for skip Debbie McCormick. The team finished round robin play tied for 3rd place with a record of 5–4. They then defeated Team Sweden in the semifinals and Team Canada in the finals to win the gold medal. In 2012 Cotten returned to international competition, as alternate for the senior women's team skipped by Pam Oleinik. The team won the United States Senior Women's Championship and placed 5th at the

World Senior Championship The World Senior Championship was a golf match held between the winners of the American PGA Seniors' Championship (now Senior PGA Championship) and the British PGA Seniors Championship. It was held from 1954 to 1978. It was a 36-hole match-play e ...

Personal life

Cotten is married and has two children.

Teams

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cotten, Joni 1953 births Living people People from North Chicago, Illinois Sportspeople from Lake County, Illinois People from Mount Prospect, Illinois Sportspeople from Cook County, Illinois American female curlers Olympic curlers for the United States Curlers at the 2002 Winter Olympics World curling champions American curling champions 21st-century American women