Although she received a bronze medal at the 1991 Junior World Championships and completed the first stage of the tournament with an undefeated record, Atina Ford is probably best known as the alternate with Sandra Schmirler’s rink during the late 1990s. With the team she won gold medals at the 1997 World Championships (replacing an injured Jan Betker) and the 1998 Winter Olympics, the first year since 1924 that curling was offered as a part of the official program. After Schmirler’s death from cancer in 2000 Ford once again took on the role of skip of her own rink in Edmonton, Alberta. As of 2009 she competes under her married name as Atina Johnston with Team Johnston and, although highly-regarded in the curling world, has yet to approach the success that she experienced under the Schmirler rink.
Canada