Kelly Schafer ( Wood, born 8 April 1981 in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

-Canadian curler who has represented her Scotland and Great Britain on an International 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 ...

level. After playing in the 2010 World Championships in

Swift Current Swift Current is the fifth largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is situated along the Trans Canada Highway west of Moose Jaw, and east of Medicine Hat, Alberta. Swift Current grew 6.8% between 2011 and 2016, ending up at ...

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 ...

, she fell in love with and married the mayor of the city and has lived there ever since. She currently plays

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 ...

on Team

Robyn Silvernagle Robyn Silvernagle (born May 20, 1987) is a Canadian curler from North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Career Silvernagle represented Saskatchewan at the 2005 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, finishing the event with a 7–5 record and missing ...

Career

Schafer made her international curling debut competing at the 1999 World Junior Championships, representing Scotland and the Letham Grange Ice Rink. With Schafer leading the team as

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 ...

, they finished a respectable fifth position. Schafer was skip for Team Scotland at the World Juniors two more times, in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. Both years the team again finished fifth. Scotland's curling dominance over the two other host nations of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

secured its place at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Schafer was shortlisted along with nine other female curlers to be considered for a place on the women's Olympic team and became successful to travel to Turin to defend

Rhona Martin Rhona Howie, MBE (born 12 October 1966, Ayrshire), better known under her married name, Rhona Martin, is a British curler most famous for skipping the British women's team at the 2002 Winter Olympics, where the team claimed the gold medal. S ...

's Olympic gold that Team GB won in Salt Lake City in 2002. She joined

Lynn Cameron Lynn Cameron (born 31 July 1979, in Perth) is a Scottish curler, and she was a member of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team taking part in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. 2006 was her first appearance as an Olympian ...

Jackie Lockhart Jacqueline "Jackie" Lockhart (née Steele, born 22 March 1965) is a Scottish curler who has competed prolifically in major international competitions for Scotland, and for the Great Britain team that competes at the Olympic Winter Games. She ...

and

Debbie Knox Deborah Knox MBE (born 26 September 1968 in Dunfermline) is a British curler from Lochgelly, Scotland. She is best known for being part of the British curling team that won gold in the 2002 winter Olympics. In the 2002 Olympics, Knox played ...

. As in her other international games, Shaefer played second throughout the Olympic competition. However, despite beating

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

10–4 after only six ends, Team GB's Olympic hopes were shattered as Canada beat Denmark in a nail-biting match in the final end. A win over

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

would have enabled

to go into a playoff to compete for the last semi-final position. When interviewed after the game Kelly conceded Team GB's loss was "gutting" but added "we eam GBhave to take the positives out of this." Schafer won her first medal at an international event at the

2007 World Women's Curling Championship The 2007 World Women's Curling Championship was held in Aomori, Aomori, Japan from March 17–25, 2007. It was the first world curling championship (men's or women's) to be held in Asia. Team Canada skipped by Kelly Scott won 8-4 over Denmark's ...

. She skipped Scotland with teammates

Lorna Vevers Lorna Vevers (born 31 January 1981, in Dumfries) is a Scottish curler living in Lockerbie. She won a bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships. She played lead for Team Great Britain at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Vevers' 2010 Olympic coach w ...

, Lindsay Wood and

Karen Addison Karen Addison (born 28 August 1970) is a Scottish curler. In 1990, Addison won the World Junior Curling Championships playing third for the Scottish team, skipped by Kirsty Addison. She won the gold again two years later in 1992, but did not ...

. Scotland won the bronze medal by losing in the semi-final to

, skipped by

Angelina Jensen Angelina Camilla Jensen (born 23 May 1973) is a Danish curler from Kastrup. Jensen has won two bronze medals in six attempts at the World Junior Curling Championships. She won her first bronze in 1993 playing third for Dorthe Holm and won bronz ...

. Schafer returned to the Olympics in 2010, again playing second but this time for skip

Eve Muirhead Eve Muirhead (born 22 April 1990) is a Scottish former curler from Perth and the skip of the British Olympic Curling team. Muirhead and the GB team became Olympic champions at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the bro ...

. Team Great Britain finished 7th with a record of 3–6. A month after the Olympics Schafer again played with Muirhead, this time as

at the 2010 World Championships. Team Scotland played Germany in the final, settling for the silver medal after giving up two points in an extra end. Though she no longer lives in Scotland, Schafer has been a frequent alternate for Team Scotland, including at the 2012 World Championships in Lethbridge, Alberta, the 2017 World Championships in Beijing, China, and for Great Britain in the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

. Although not yet a Canadian citizen, Schafer played for Saskatchewan at the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2020 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship The 2020 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship was held from November 3 to 9, 2019 at the Foyer des loisirs et de la culture in Jonquière, Saguenay, Quebec. Quebec won the event, having gone undefeated throughout the tournament. It was only the ...

. After becoming a citizen, she was able to compete in provincial playdowns, and joined the

rink for the

2022–23 curling season The 2022–23 curling season began in June 2022 and ended in May 2023. ''Note: In events with two genders, the men's tournament winners will be listed before the women's tournament winners.'' World Curling Federation events Source: Championshi ...

. She won her first Saskatchewan provincial women's title in 2023, and will play for Saskatchewan in her first

Scotties 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 ...

Personal life

While representing Scotland at the 2010 World Championships in Swift Current, Kelly Wood met the mayor, Jerrod Schafer, and a romance developed. She would later move to the town. Kelly and Jerrod Schafer married in 2013. They have one child together. She currently works as a safe places manager for the City of Swift Current and also as a fitness coach.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schafer, Kelly 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Dundee Scottish female curlers British female curlers Olympic curlers for Great Britain Curlers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Curlers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Curlers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Curlers from Saskatchewan People from Swift Current Canadian women curlers Scottish emigrants to Canada Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Canada