Among the players curling here this week are six who posed for the now-infamous two nude curling calendars.
But none took a more circuitous route to get here than Germany's Melanie Robillard.
Robillard, 25, grew up in Canada and curled as a junior with Jennifer Jones lead Dawn Askin on Jenn Hanna's Ottawa rink. But she's best-known in curling circles for posing in the 2006 edition of a nude curling calendar that was published by Spanish curler Ana Arce.
Robillard moved to Belgium after her father was transferred to Brussels as part of his job with NATO. She's been going to university there, then the opportunity came up recently to curl with Germany's Andrea Schoepp.
Robillard's mother is German and that allowed her daughter to get a German passport just in time for this event. Schoepp's team is hoping to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics and that meant Robillard needed a German passport to compete at these worlds, where Germany needs to collect points to qualify for the Olympics.
After all her recent jet-setting, Robillard said it's been great to be back in Canada this week. "I'm so glad the worlds is here. I feel at home again," Robillard said.
Robillard and Askin have used the opportunity to catch up on old times and Askin marvelled that they had to go to the worlds for two different countries to make it happen. "It's not often that happens," Askin said.
Robillard isn't the only calendar girl playing in this event. Her German teammate Anna Hartelt also appeared, as did Americans Debbie McCormick and Nicole Joraanstad, Denmark's Camilla Jensen and Italy's Giorgia Apollonio.
The calendar was published in 2006 and 2007 and back copies are still available at the website, www.thecurlingnews.com. There was no calendar published this year but there is talk of putting out a new one for 2009.
When the calendar first came out, the men's magazine Playboy did a small feature. As part of that, they wanted to run the picture of Robillard that appears in the calendar, but Robillard declined the offer. The magazine ended up instead using a picture of a Polish curler.
Askin was asked if she'd ever consider following her old teammate into the nude modelling business.
"I'm too shy for that," she laughed.
Players lose a bundle
after hotel break-ins
RCMP are investigating a break-in at the players' hotel here in Vernon Sunday afternoon, during which rooms belonging to at least three teams competing at this event were broken into.
The teams involved -- Japan, Switzerland and Italy -- lost what a source described here yesterday as thousands of dollars in cash and valuables in the break-ins. "This isn't a petty crime we're talking about here. This was very well-organized and we're talking about a major loss in terms of cash."
The three teams were all curling on the Sunday-afternoon draw when the break-ins occurred. The source said a hotel security camera captured the image of a lone male using what appeared to be a hotel pass key to enter the rooms.
Canada's Jennifer Jones team was unaffected by the break-ins. The Canadians are not staying at the players' hotel, choosing instead to stay at some nearby condominiums offered to them by a supporter of the team.
The fact that teams curling in this event were targeted in the break-ins might suggest some inside knowledge on the part of the thief. All the teams here received cheques for about $5,000 in per diem money when they first arrived and many simply cashed those cheques immediately, making their rooms a particularly juicy target.
The host committee, as well as officials with the Canadian Curling Association and the World Curling Federation, are co-operating with police in the investigation. There were also steps being taken yesterday to beef up security at the players' hotel and to make arrangements to replace at least some of the lost per diems.
-- Wiecek/Canwest News Service
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