Monday, February 11, 2002

Olympic Notebook

Curlers to salute Queen

By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
 The late Queen of Curling, Canada's Sandra Schmirler, will be honoured in a presentation this afternoon at the Ice Sheet At Ogden as part of the Olympic opening ceremony for curling.

 Schmirler was the skip of the Canadian team at the 1998 Nagano Olympics which won the first gold medal in women's curling.

 Schmirler, who died of cancer in March 2000, has become a legend in the sport and has inspired a generation of young women to try curling.

 Schmirler's former teammates, Marcia Gudereit, Joan McCusker and Atina Ford will attend the presentation which will acknowledge her rink's gold-medal win, her down-to-earth personality and her contributions to the sport.

 Olympic team skip Kelley Law paid tribute to her rival and friend after arriving in Salt Lake this week.

 "Watching Sandra win her gold medal in Nagano was a real inspiration for us," Law said.

 Schmirler, who also won three Canadian titles and three world titles, was diagnosed with cancer in August 1999. After nine months of treatments, Schmirler died on March 2, 2000, at age 36.

 MONARCH CALLING:

  The king telephoned, but Johann Muehlegg couldn't take the call. Muehlegg, a German-born, naturalized citizen of Spain, received an honour few other Spaniards have -- a congratulatory call from King Juan Carlos. Muehlegg was in the drug testing area at the time.

 He won the gold medal in the 30-meter cross-country, only Spain's third medal ever in the Winter Games.

 "I'm sorry I missed the call, but it was a tremendous honour that he tried," said Muehlegg.

 He did receive a telegram from the king saying, "This is a very important victory for Spanish sports."

 -- AP

2002 Games News Coverage