Joan McCusker

Joan McCusker
Born (1965-06-08) June 8, 1965 (age 59)
Curling career
World Championship
appearances
3 (1993, 1994, 1997)
Olympic
appearances
1 (1998)
Medal record
Women's curling
Representing  Canada
Winter Olympics
Gold medal – first place 1998 Nagano Team
World championships
Gold medal – first place 1993 Geneva Team
Gold medal – first place 1994 Oberstdorf Team
Gold medal – first place 1997 Berne Team
Representing  Saskatchewan
Scotties Tournament of Hearts
Gold medal – first place 1993 Brandon
Gold medal – first place 1994 Kitchener
Gold medal – first place 1997 Vancouver
Bronze medal – third place 1995 Calgary
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Regina
Canadian Olympic Curling Trials
Gold medal – first place 1997 Brandon

Joan McCusker (born June 8, 1965 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan as Joan Elizabeth Inglis) is a retired Canadian Olympic gold medallist curler and broadcaster.

Career

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McCusker's greatest successes in curling came during the years she played second on the team of Sandra Schmirler (skip), Jan Betker (third), and Marcia Gudereit (lead). In 1993, 1994, and 1997 they won the Scott Tournament of Hearts,[1] the Canadian women's championship, the first Canadian women's team to win multiple times with the same lineup.[2] As the Tournament of Hearts champions McCusker's team went on to represent Canada at the World Curling Championships three times and won each time.[3] At the 1998 Winter Olympics McCusker and the rest of the Schmirler rink represented Canada, defeating Denmark to win the gold medal.[2] The success of the team of Schmirler, McCusker, Betker, and Gudereit came to an abrupt end in 2000 when Schmirler died of cancer.[4]

In 2000 McCusker and her teammates were inducted into the Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.[1] In 2019 McCusker and her Olympic teammates were named the greatest female Canadian curling team of all time as part of a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers.[5]

Personal life

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McCusker grew up with her 6 siblings on a farm near Saltcoats, Saskatchewan.[6] She comes from a family of curlers and her sisters Cathy Trowell and Nancy Inglis have also curled competitively at the provincial and national levels. Her husband Brian is also a curler and is a three time Saskatchewan champion.[7] Joan and Brian have three children.

McCusker was an elementary school teacher until 1998, when she quit to focus on her curling and broadcasting career.[2] From 2001 to 2024,[8] McCusker had been part of CBC's curling coverage and then Sportsnet's coverage,[9] working with Rob Faulds, Bruce Rainnie and Mike Harris. She also is a motivational speaker.[6]

She currently coaches the Casey Scheidegger rink.[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Canada's Sports Hall of Fame | Honoured Members Search". www.sportshall.ca. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  2. ^ a b c "Joan McCusker Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  3. ^ "Personal details". results.worldcurling.org. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  4. ^ "Joan McCusker". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  5. ^ "Canada's Greatest Curlers: Schmirler's foursome named greatest rink of all-time". TSN. 2019-02-22. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  6. ^ a b "Joan McCusker | Joan McCusker Motivational Speaker | Olympic Curling Gold Medallist". www.mcpspeakers.com. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  7. ^ Harder, Greg (2018-03-08). "Busy week for the McCusker family | Regina Leader-Post". Regina Leader-Post. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  8. ^ "McCusker Announces Broadcast Retirement".
  9. ^ "Joan McCusker". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  10. ^ "Scores – Curling Alberta".
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Preceded by CBC Sports Lead Curling analyst (with Mike Harris)
2001-c. 2020
Succeeded by