Growing up in a town of about 500 people, one of Joan McCusker’s only opportunities for social interaction was the local curling rink. At first curling was a hobby, as she was employed as an elementary school teacher, having graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1987 with a degree in education, but she began to focus more on the sport after being invited to join a rink with Sandra Schmirler and Jan Betker to replace her pregnant sister. By 1990 Schmirler wanted to skip (captain) her own team and offered McCusker a position as second, but McCusker refused, as she had already committed to another rink with her sister and Marcia Gudereit. She later accepted (and brought Gudereit along) after her sister became pregnant once more. Their hard work quickly paid off, and they won the Canadian National and World Championships in 1993, 1994, and 1997 and distinguishing themselves as the first Canadian women’s team to win more than one national championship with the same lineup. Their journey then took them to the 1998 Winter Olympics, where they easily won the gold medal in a sport that had not been recognized as an official part of the program since 1924, but it came to an abrupt end in 2000 when Schmirler died of cancer. McCusker had quit her job as a teacher in 1998 and spent a few more years curling after Schmirler’s death, but soon retired and took up work as a motivational speaker. Since 2001 she has been the lead curling analyst, alongside former Olympian Mike Harris, for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Alongside her Olympic team she was inducted into the Curling Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Canada Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.
Canada