Peter Fenson (born February 29, 1968 in

Bemidji, Minnesota Bemidji ( ) is a city and the county seat of Beltrami County, in northern Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,574 at the 2020 census. According to 2021 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 15,279, making it ...

) is an American curler. He was the

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 ...

of the men's rink that represented the United States 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 ...

, where they won the bronze medal, the first Olympic medal for the United States in curling. He has won eight national championships, the most recent in Philadelphia in March 2014, and six as skip.

Career

Fenson took up curling at age 13; his father,

Bob Fenson Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States * Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Bob (surnam ...

, won the 1979 national championships and is now the coach of Pete's rink. Pete Fenson was a third on the national champion rinks in 1993 and 1994, and his rink, skipped by

Scott Baird Scott Baird (born May 7, 1951) is an American curler. At 54, he is the oldest American athlete to ever participate in the Winter Olympics, which he did at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Despite this feat, Baird was only the alternate for Pete Fenson ...

, made it to the semifinals of the 1993

World Curling Championship 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 ...

and placed fifth in 1994. Fenson was the skip of the rink which won the 2003 U.S. national championship, and went on to take eighth place at the

2003 Ford World Curling Championship 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 Doubles curling, mixed doubles championships, as ...

. He also participated in the 2003 Continental Cup of Curling. After finishing as runner-up in the 2004 U.S. championships, Fenson's rink won the 2005 national championship. At the 2005

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, Fenson's rink finished the preliminary round in a six-way tie for first place, but was eliminated from competition in a tie-breaker against defending

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 ...

champion

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Still, Fenson's sixth-place finish earned his rink the right to represent the U.S. at the 2006 Winter Olympics in

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 ...

. At the Olympics, Fenson's rink had a 6–3 record in the

round robin Round-robin may refer to: Computing * Round-robin DNS, a technique for dealing with redundant Internet Protocol service hosts * Round-robin networks, communications networks made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology * Round-robin schedu ...

portion of the tournament, losing only to

and eventual finalists

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

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 ...

. This put the rink in a three-way tie for second place with Canada and

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 ...

; Fenson's rink faced

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 ...

's Canadian rink in the semifinal, losing 11–5 in nine ends. Two days later, however, the rink rebounded to defeat

David Murdoch David Matthew Murdoch (born 17 April 1978) is a retired Scottish curler from Stirling. As the Scotland skip, he and his former team of Ewan MacDonald, Warwick Smith, Euan Byers and Peter Smith are the 2006 and 2009 World Curling Champions. ...

's Great Britain rink in the bronze medal game 8–6, securing the first-ever American Olympic medal in curling. On January 16, 2007, the team was named the 2006

USOC Team of the Year The USOPC Athlete of the Year (historically USOC Athlete of the Year) awards are part of a series of awards presented by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to athletes who have distinguished themselves in one of the Olympic or Paralym ...

. Fenson's teammates in the 2009-10 curling season were

Shawn Rojeski Shawn Rojeski (born January 21, 1972) is an American curler from Chisholm, Minnesota and Olympic medalist. He was born and raised in Biwabik, Minnesota and attended Mesabi East High School. Under skip Pete Fenson, he received a bronze medal at ...

(third),

Joe Polo Joseph Polo (born December 10, 1982) is an American curler who is best known for winning a bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics and being the alternate on the gold-medal winning United States men's team at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Polo was ...

(second), and

Tyler George Tyler George (born October 6, 1982) is an American curler from Duluth, Minnesota. He is a three-time U.S. Champion, 2016 World bronze medalist, and 2018 Olympic gold medalist. Since the 2018 Olympics, he has taken a break from playing competitiv ...

(lead). The team's lead for the past four years (including the 2006 Olympics),

John Shuster John Shuster ( ; born November 3, 1982) is an American curler who lives in Superior, Wisconsin. He led Team USA to gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the first American team to ever win gold in curling. He also won a bronze medal at the 2006 Winte ...

, had decided in 2006 to depart from the team to form his own team. Fenson won the 2010 USA National Championships, which took place in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

. His victory earned him the right to play for the US at the 2010 World Championship in

Cortina d'Ampezzo Cortina d'Ampezzo (; lld, Anpezo, ; historical de-AT, Hayden) is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomitic) Alps in the Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the Boite river, in an alp ...

, where he and his rink finished 4th after two disappointing losses in the playoffs to David Smith's rink from Scotland.

soon left to form his own team. With Ryan Brunt playing at the lead position, Fenson and his rink participated at the 2011 Continental Cup of Curling, where Team North America defeated Team World in a record-breaking performance. His team then went to the 2011 US Nationals and, after winning some tight matches, finished the round robin with an undefeated 9-0 win–loss record. He then edged

out in the playoffs and in the finals to become the repeat US champion, winning his seventh US national championship. He and his team represented the United States at the 2011 Ford World Men's Curling Championship at

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, 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 C ...

in April. The team opened with a win against Denmark, but suffered a series of close losses and finished in 10th place with a 3-8 win–loss record, their worst at a world championship. Fenson and his team missed the playoffs at the first three events for their 2011–12 World Curling Tour season. However, they had better fortune at the Laphroaig Scotch Open, where they flew through the knockout round and defeated David Brown in the final to win the event. Fenson and his rink were selected to represent the United States at the 2012 USA-Brazil Challenge to play against Brazil for a spot in the World Championships in Basel, but Brazil withdrew from the challenge. Fenson then participated in the

2012 Continental Cup of Curling The 2012 World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling was held from Thursday, January 12 to Sunday, January 15 at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, British Columbia. Just like in the previous year's event, the Continental Cup featured te ...

, where Team World won a close tournament over Team North America. Fenson participated in the

2012 United States Men's Curling Championship The 2012 United States Men's Curling Championship took place from February 11 to 18 at the IceWorks Skating Complex in Aston, Pennsylvania, (with the host city being listed as Philadelphia). It was held in conjunction with the 2012 United State ...

, and went through the round robin with a 9–1 win–loss record. In the playoffs, he was defeated by

Heath McCormick Heath McCormick (born August 7, 1976) is a Canadian-American curler from Sarnia, Ontario. Career McCormick began curling in 1992 as a junior in Ontario. He competed in the Ontario Junior Curling Championships five times, and won in 1996 playin ...

, who had previously beaten him in the round robin, but rebounded with a win in the semifinal over former teammate

. In the final, he lost a close game to

, losing his bid for a third consecutive nationals title and a chance to play at the world championships. Fenson and his team played at the

2013 United States Men's Curling Championship The 2013 United States Men's Curling Championship was held from February 9 to 16 at the Cornerstone Community Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It was held in conjunction with the 2013 United States Women's Curling Championship. The winning team ...

, but failed to qualify for the playoffs, losing to McCormick in a five-team tiebreaker. Upon their semifinal win at the

, Fenson and his team were qualified to participate at the

2014 United States Olympic Curling Trials The 2013 United States Olympic Curling Trials was held from November 10 to 17, 2013 at the Scheels Arena in Fargo, North Dakota. The trials were held to determine the women's team that will represent the United States at the curling tournament ...

. Fenson and his team finished second in the round robin, and played

in the three-game final round, but lost after a lopsided third game. Fenson was hired by

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

to work as a curling analyst during the Olympic games.

Personal life

Fenson is married to his wife Roxanne and has two sons, Alex and Graem. He enjoys golf, biking, and spending time with family. His brother, Eric Fenson, is a curler and former teammate. His son

Alex Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple pe ...

is a member of his team. Fenson has a bachelor's degree in technical illustration and graphic design. He is the owner of a restaurant, Dave's Pizza, which operates in Bemidji, Minnesota. He is currently employed as a coach with

USA Curling The United States Curling Association (USCA or USA Curling) is the national governing body of the sport of curling in the United States. The goal of the USCA is to grow the sport of curling in the United States and win medals in competitions both ...

.2019 Continental Cup Media Guide: Pete Fenson

Grand Slam record

Fenson was only active in Grand Slam events between 2003 and 2009

Teams

Awards and honors

Athlete of the Year: 2003, 2005, 2011 *

Team of the Year: 2006 *

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

Team of the Month: December 2005 *

Team of the Year: 2006

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fenson, Pete 1968 births Living people People from Bemidji, Minnesota American male curlers Curlers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Curling broadcasters Olympic curlers of the United States Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in curling Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics American curling champions Continental Cup of Curling participants American curling coaches