Karin Elisabet Gustafson (born 2 May 1964) is a retired

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

curler, world champion and Olympic medalist. She has won four World Championships, more World Championships than any other women's curler.

Career

Gustafson made her debut onto the world stage at the 1985 European Junior Curling Championships, where she finished in fourth place. She then skipped one of the most dominant teams of the 1990s, winning four World Curling Championships and four European Curling Championships in the span of eight years. As of 2017 her four World Curling Championships is still an all time record, and each was won with the same team. Her most dramatic victory was at the 1995 World Curling Championships in Brandon where facing hometown favorite

Connie Laliberte Connie Laliberte (born October 21, 1960) is a Canadian curler from Manitoba and world champion. In 2019, Laliberte was named the tenth greatest Canadian curler in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers. Championships ...

of Canada, she overcame a 6-4 deficit without hammer to win, stealing 3 consecutive ends including the extra end. She received a bronze medal 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 ...

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

."1998 Winter Olympics – Nagano, Japan – Curling"
– ''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on March 19, 2008) There she had come in co-favored for the gold along with Sandra Schmirler and finished tied with Schmirler atop round robin at 6-1 (Schmirler taking 1st place and the hammer in the playoffs due to winning the round robin meeting of the two teams), but lost in the semis in a significant upset to the team of

Helena Blach Lavrsen Helena Blach Lavrsen (born June 7, 1963) is a Danish curler, several times skip for the Danish team, Olympic medalist and European champion. She received a silver medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympic ...

of Denmark. She gained revenge on this same team a month later, defeating them in the finals of the 1998 World Curling Championships for her 3rd World title She retired from the sport after finishing a disappointing sixth place at the 2002 Winter Games. Here as in 1998, she was one of the heavy favorites for a possible gold medal, but barely made the playoffs after finishing in a four way tie for 4th at 5-4, then lost in a tiebreaker game to the eventual gold medalists

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. ...

of Scotland. In 1993 she was inducted into the Swedish Curling Hall of Fame. In 2012 Gustafson was inducted into the

WCF Hall of Fame The WCF Hall of Fame is an international curling Hall of Fame that was established by the World Curling Federation The World Curling Federation (WCF) is the world governing body for curling accreditation, with offices in Perth, Scotland. It was ...

and in 2020 she was inducted again with her team.

Personal life

Gustafson is a medical doctor and trained as a

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

. She is married to

Tomas Gustafson Sven Tomas Gustafson (born 28 December 1959) is a retired Swedish speed skater, and one of the most successful distance skaters of the 1980s. Early career Born in Katrineholm, he won the World Junior Championships title, in Grenoble, France, i ...

, an Olympic World Champion speed skater.

References

External links

* 1964 births Living people Swedish female curlers World curling champions Olympic curlers of Sweden Curlers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Curlers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists in curling Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Continental Cup of Curling participants European curling champions {{Sweden-curling-bio-stub