Marc Kennedy (born February 5, 1982) 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 Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

list from St. Albert, Alberta. In 2019, Kennedy was named the greatest Canadian male

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 ...

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

Career

Kennedy was born in St. Albert, Alberta, the son of Don and Connie. He started curling at age six. He is a Canadian Winter Games champion and three-time provincial junior champion. He won his first provincial men's championship with Kevin Martin in 2007. As a junior, he played second for

Carter Rycroft Carter Rycroft (born August 29, 1977) is a Canadian curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. He was a member of the Canadian Olympic team, skipped by Kevin Martin, that won a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Career Rycroft joined the Marti ...

at the

1998 Canadian Junior Curling Championships The 1998 Kärcher Canadian Junior Curling Championships were held January 24-February 1 at the Calgary Curling Club and the North Hill Curling Club in Calgary, Alberta. Men's Teams Standings Results Draw 1 Draw 2 Draw 3 Dra ...

and played third for

Jeff Erickson Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

at the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and 2001 Canadian Juniors. In 2003 Kennedy was an alternate for the 2003 Winter Universiade gold medal-winning team from

Brandon University Brandon University is a university located in the city of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, with an enrollment of 3375 (2020) full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. The current location was founded on July 13, 1899, as Brandon Co ...

skipped by Mike McEwen. After 2-time World Junior Champion John Morris moved to Alberta in 2003, Kennedy joined his team at second position. In 2004, they lost the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world ...

final to

Randy Ferbey Randy S. Ferbey (born May 30, 1959) is a Canadian retired curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. Ferbey is a six-time Canadian champion and a four-time World Champion. He currently coaches the Rachel Homan women's team. Born in Edmonton, Albert ...

. In 2006, both Morris and Kennedy joined 2-time Brier champion Kevin Martin on his new team. In 2008, Kennedy won the Brier and the World Championships as a member of the team. They repeated their Brier win in 2009, going undefeated for a second straight year and setting a record for consecutive Brier games won (26) previously held by the Ferbey foursome. In 2010, Kennedy won an

Olympic Gold Medal 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 ...

in Vancouver with Kevin Martin, John Morris and Ben Hebert as Team Canada defeated

Thomas Ulsrud Thomas Ulsrud (21 October 1971 – 24 May 2022) was a Norwegian curler from Oslo. He won a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, one World Curling Championship, two European Curling Championships, and fourteen Norwegian titles (Norwegian Men ...

of Norway 6-3 in the Gold Medal Game. After a win at the Alberta provincials, Kennedy headed with Team Martin to the

2011 Tim Hortons Brier The 2011 Tim Hortons Brier, the Canadian men's national curling championship, was held March 5 until March 13, 2011 at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario. This event marked the 30th time that the province of Ontario has hosted the Brier s ...

. They went through the round robin with a 9-2 win–loss record and lost the page 3 vs. 4 playoff game to Ontario and the bronze medal game to Newfoundland/Labrador. Kennedy left the Brier before the bronze medal game because he and his wife were expecting a new child. In 2013, Kennedy and Team Martin won the Alberta provincials with a close win over

Kevin Koe Kevin Koe ( ; born January 11, 1975) is a Canadian curler. Koe is a two-time World champion and four-time Canadian champion. He was the skip of the Canadian men's team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Originally from Yellowknife, N ...

to earn a berth in the

2013 Tim Hortons Brier The 2013 Tim Hortons Brier, the Canadian men's national curling championship, was held from March 2 to 10 at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta. This edition of the Brier marked the thirteenth time that Alberta has hosted the Brier, and the sixth ti ...

in their hometown

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. On the first day, Kennedy won the

Ford Hot Shots The Ford Hot Shots was the annual skills competition preceding both the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and the Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's women's and men's national curling championships respectively. The competition has not been held since 2018. ...

skills and shot-making competition that preceded the start of round-robin play. The team played in the

2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials The 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials (branded as the 2013 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings for sponsorship reasons) were held from December 1 to 8 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The winners of the men's and women's events were chosen to ...

, finishing third. Following Kevin Martin's retirement from curling in 2014, Kennedy joined Team

at third. They played in their first Brier together in 2015, finishing with a 6-5 record, missing the playoffs. In December 2015, Kennedy, along with his teammates, claimed the first berth in the

2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials The 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials (branded as the 2017 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings for sponsorship reasons) were held from December 2 to 10 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ottawa, Ontario. The winners of the men's and women's event ...

with their

victory in Grande Prairie, AB. The team continued their winning ways that season by winning the

2016 Tim Hortons Brier The 2016 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from March 5–13, 2016 at TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Ontario. It is the fourth time the Brier has been held in Ottawa, and the fifth time the Brier has been held i ...

and a gold medal at the 2016 World Men's Curling Championship. Representing Team Canada as defending champions, the team lost in the final of the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier. The team would go on to win the 2017 Olympic Trials and represented Canada at 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 ...

, finishing fourth. Following the 2017-18 season, Kennedy announced he would take a break from competitive curling to heal injuries and focus on family. He subsequently took a position as national team program performance consultant with

Curling Canada Curling Canada (formerly the Canadian Curling Association (CCA)) is a sanctioning body for the sport of Curling in Canada. It is associated with more than a dozen provincial and territorial curling associations across the country, and organizes C ...

. He was invited to play third for team

Brad Jacobs Bradley Robert Jacobs (born June 11, 1985) is a Canadian curler from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He is an Olympic champion skip, having led Canada to a gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Jacobs is also the 2013 Tim Hortons Brier championshi ...

at the

2018 Canada Cup The 2018 Home Hardware Canada Cup was held December 5–9 at Affinity Place in Estevan, Saskatchewan. The tournament winners qualified for the 2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Pre-Trials. Both the men's and women's events have a total purse of $70,0 ...

, to fill in for

Ryan Fry Ryan Bennett Fry (born July 25, 1978) is a Canadian curler currently living in Toronto and playing third on the Mike McEwen team. He previously played third for Team Brad Jacobs, and the team represented Canada and won the gold medal at the 20 ...

, who took a couple of events off, following unsportsmanlike behaviour from an event he played in. Kennedy's addition to the team worked out, and they would win the event. Kennedy announced in March 2019 that he would join Team Jacobs to replace Ryan Fry for the next three curling seasons. In their first event, the 2019 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic, the team went undefeated up until the final where they would lose to Team Epping. Team Jacobs won three straight

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

events at the

Tour Challenge The Tour Challenge is a bonspiel, or curling tournament, and is a Grand Slam of Curling event. It was introduced into the Grand Slam lineup starting in the 2015–16 curling season The 2015–16 curling season began in August 2015 and ended in ...

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

and the Canadian Open. They would unsurprisingly win the 2020 Northern Ontario Men's Provincial Curling Championship, going in as the number one seed. At the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier, they battled through two tiebreakers before losing to

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

Brad Gushue Bradley Raymond Gushue, ONL ( ; born June 16, 1980) is a Canadian curler from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Gushue, along with teammates Russ Howard, Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam, represented Canada in curling at the 2006 W ...

in the 3 vs. 4 game, all within the same day. It would be the team's last event of the season as both the

Players' Championship The Players' Championship is one of the final events on the World Curling Tour (WCT) and is a part of the Grand Slam of Curling. From 2016 to 2019, it was the penultimate slam of the curling season, and the last of the four "majors". The even ...

and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Team Jacobs played in two tour events during the 2020–21 season, winning the

Stu Sells Oakville Tankard The Stu Sells Oakville Tankard (also known as the OCT Championships) is an annual bonspiel on the men's and women's Ontario Curling Tour. Except for in 2020, the event has been held at the Oakville Curling Club in Oakville, Ontario. The event wa ...

and losing in the qualification game of the Ashley HomeStore Curling Classic. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario The COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario is an ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in C ...

, the 2021 provincial championship was cancelled. As the reigning provincial champions, Team Jacobs was chosen to represent Northern Ontario at the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier. At the Brier, they finished with a 7–5 record. Also during the 2020–21 season, Kennedy served as the alternate for the

Brendan Bottcher Brendan Michael Bottcher (born December 19, 1991) is a Canadian curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. Bottcher is a three-time provincial men's champion, and was the skip of the 2021 Canadian men's championship team, having led Alberta to victory ...

rink at the

2021 World Men's Curling Championship The 2021 World Men's Curling Championship (branded as the 2021 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men's Curling Championship for sponsorship reasons) was held from April 2 to 11 at the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Canada. Th ...

. He was added to the team as a backup plan in case Bottcher's third

Darren Moulding Darren Moulding (born December 2, 1982) is a Canadian curler from Lacombe, Alberta and curls out of the Saville Sports Centre and the Lacombe Curling Club. He is a former Canadian Junior Silver Medallist, a Canadian Mixed Champion, and represen ...

's back injury that he sustained during the

2021 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship The 2021 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship (branded as the 2021 Home Hardware Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship for sponsorship reasons) was held from March 18 to 25 at the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calga ...

re-emerged as an issue. Kennedy, however, did not have to play in any games for the team as Moulding's back held up for the tournament. Kennedy was named to a third Olympic team as the alternate for the

rink for the

Beijing 2022 The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

Olympics.

2022 Winter Olympics

Kennedy's team, skipped by

, qualified as the Canadian representatives by winning the

2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials The 2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials (branded as the 2021 Tim Hortons Curling Trials for sponsorship reasons) were held from November 20 to 28 at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The winners of the men's and women's events will r ...

, defeating

4–3 in the final. Kennedy was the alternate for the team. The team would go onto win the bronze medal.

Personal life

Kennedy is married to his wife, Nicole Kennedy (née MacDonald), and they have two daughters. His brother

Glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...

is also a curler. Kennedy has a marketing degree from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

. He was a franchise owner for

M&M Meat Shops M&M Food Market (french: link=no, Les aliments M&M), formerly known as M&M Meat Shops, is a Canadian frozen food retail chain. The company is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Mississauga, Ontario, and has locations in all ten Provinces and t ...

until he sold his business in 2012 to focus more on curling. He also worked as a real estate agent for Sarasota Realty. Kennedy currently works as a coaching consultant. Kennedy is a Hec Gervais Scholarship winner, as well as a Can Fund recipient He is also currently an MBA Student at the

. Marc and Nicole began a youth bonspiel in 2016 called the Marc Kennedy Junior Classic, held in St. Albert and Edmonton. The Bonspiel saw a spin-off program in 2018 (Over The Pond) introducing international teams selected through the Nordic Jr Curling Tour. Two Canadian teams are also selected and visit the year-end event in Sweden. In his youth, Kennedy also played

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

and played for the

Edmonton Huskies The Edmonton Huskies are a Canadian Junior Football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The Huskies play in the six-team Prairie Football Conference, which itself is part of the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) and competes annually for the nat ...

Teams

Awards & recognitions

* Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Second) 2007 * Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Second) 2008 * World Curling Tour MVP 2008 * Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Second) 2009 * University Of Alberta Award of Excellence 2010 * Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Second) 2011 * Canadian Curling Championship Second Team All Star (Second) 2013 * Canadian Curling Championship Second Team All Star (Second) 2015 * TSN Top Male Second Of All Time 2019 * TSN #8 Top Male Player Of All Time 2019

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Marc 1982 births Living people Curlers from Edmonton Sportspeople from St. Albert, Alberta World curling champions Brier champions Curlers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Curlers at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic curlers for Canada Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in curling Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Canadian male curlers Continental Cup of Curling participants Universiade medalists in curling Curlers at the 2018 Winter Olympics FISU World University Games gold medalists for Canada Medalists at the 2003 Winter Universiade Canada Cup (curling) participants University of Alberta alumni Players of Canadian football from Alberta

Career

2022 Winter Olympics

Personal life

Teams

Awards & recognitions

See also

References

External links