Gold has asterisk, but precious

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/02/2010 (5965 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Debbie JONES-WALKER takes pride in the fact that she curled and won gold at the Calgary Winter Olympics, even though curling at the time was only a demonstration sport.

"It’s funny now, because there’s a commercial on TV where they say Canada has never won a gold medal on Canadian soil," said Jones-Walker. "Our team always says that should have little asterisks on it, because we did win a gold medal. As a demonstration sport it didn’t count, but to us it was huge."

Wednesday, at the St. Vital Curling Club, Jones-Walker and Barb Enright were named inductees into the 2010 Manitoba Curling Hall Of Fame. The official ceremony is May 2 at Canad Inns Polo Park.

"This is a real honour," Jones-Walker said. "I don’t know if you appreciate it at the time when you’re actually playing the sport, but when you look back on your career you really do appreciate it more than you do when you are in it."

Playing with Jones-Walker at the Calgary Olympics were Linda Moore, Lindsay Sparkes, Penny Ryan and Patti Vande.

"Curling had been in the Olympics in 1924, but hadn’t been since then," said Jones-Walker, who now lives in Vancouver. "It took another 10 years (1998) before it officially became an Olympic sport. So for us, to be there to showcase it was a huge honour. And to win it, we were thrilled."

Enright confessed she was taken aback by the attention. Looking back over her career, she said there were a few highlights that stood out.

"The Canadian junior championship in 1984 was the big one. When we won the Ladies in 1986, we were new to women’s curling (just out of juniors) and we surprised ourselves. The fact that it took 17 years to get back to the Canadians again makes the 2003 provincial championship a really special for me."

Also entering the Hall are the 1999 Manitoba men’s team of skip Jeff Stoughton, third Jon Mead, second Garry VanDenBerghe and lead Doug Armstrong.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Thursdays

Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.

Sign up for Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Lily Clark skipped the veteran team inductees, made up of third Vic Painter, second Helen Wishart and lead Diane Kitson.

Builders include Georgina Anderson and Rick Mutton in the modern category. Veteran builders are Marian Rowlands and J.W. deCouroy O’Grady.

allan.besson@freepress.mb.ca