Beijing 2022 Blog #10!

Team Canada Beijing 2022 Blog: Brad Gushue

It’s really good to be back at the Olympics!

That was a good start tonight against Denmark. We were getting used to the ice and rocks and I thought we made a lot of good shots as the night went on. It was cool to see Brett and Geoff play their first games at the Olympics. I sure remember my first game, and that’s going to be something they’ll remember forever.

I think back to the 2006 Olympics and Mark and I were just kids, goofing around with Jamie (Korab) and Mike (Adam), and even Russ (Howard) got into it sometimes. We’ve played an awful lot of games since then, and we’ve had some big wins, and some tough losses. But it never gets old. We’re extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished so far this year to get to Beijing, but we also know we have a lot of work still to do.

Of course we have high expectations here; we don’t arrive at any event we play had without those expectations. At the same time, I see and hear what people have been saying after Rachel and John missed the playoffs in mixed doubles, and I think fans and the media really need to adjust the way they think about international curling.

Canada still has the best depth in the world, and our teams are not playing any worse than before. But the rest of the world has just improved dramatically, and that’s not a bad thing. To expect Canada to always be in the medals at every single international event just isn’t realistic, and fans and media need to understand that. Rachel and John were just a quarter-inch away from making the playoffs, and if it went their way the other day, maybe they’re standing here today as gold-medallists. It’s such a fine line that separates teams today in international curling.

We got to Beijing early on Sunday morning and got into the Athletes Village; Marc (Kennedy) had our room set up, so we were pretty comfortable right away. We’ve been working on changing our sleep patterns for the last couple of weeks while we were training in Abbotsford, B.C., so the jetlag wasn’t really a problem. We’ve had the chance to get out and see other sports, like speed skating, the big air skiing and then the Canada-U.S. women’s hockey game yesterday. 

But now our focus is on curling, and we’re looking forward to the rest of the week. We really appreciate all of the support were getting, from our friends and family at home in Newfoundland and Labrador, and from fans all across Canada. I’m hoping we can keep giving you something to cheer about!