OLYMPIC NEWS Olympian Joraanstad retires from competitive curling By Terry L. Davis, Editor,
terry.davis@usacurl.org A
ſter decades of international success, Olympian Nicole Joraan- stad (Verona, Wis.) has announced her retirement from com- petitive curling.
Joraanstad, 35, was a member of the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team for Curling
and represented the U.S. at nine women’s world championships during her 21-year curling career. “Over the last 20-plus years, I have had the opportunity to travel the
world and compete at the highest level. I feel lucky to have played a sport I love with women I call my best friends,” Joraanstad said. “I feel grateful for the opportunity and will cherish the memories that I have made along this journey.” Playing second for Team Erika Brown this season, the team achieved a
record-setting year competing in World Curling Tour events and winning the 2016 Continental Cup and 2016 National Championships. Joraanstad, who just welcomed her second child with husband, Derek, into the world last week, was one of the top performing athletes in the second position at the recent women’s world championship. “It isn’t easy to step back from competing, but I know it is the right time
for myself,” Joraanstad said. “I want to thank all those that have been by my side helping me to chase my dreams. I could not have been able to compete at this level without the love and undying support of my family and friends. Teir support is what fueled my dreams. Tere are not enough words to express my gratitude for that.” Joraanstad began curling as a teenager in the Seattle area and moved to
Wisconsin to attend the University of Wisconsin and continue her com- petitive curling career. She would win the U.S. junior women’s title in 2001 and 2000, earning a bronze medal at the 2000 World Junior Champion- ships. She also reached the podium in 2006 when the U.S. won silver at the Women’s World Championship. Her aspiration to become an Olympian was realized in 2010 as a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in Vancouver, Canada. In addition, Joraanstad competed with Team North America at seven
Continental Cups, winning the event five times. She was named USA Curl- ing’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2007 and was twice a recipient of the association’s Team of the Year Award (2004, 2000). Joraanstad curls out of the Madison Curling Club and works as a Manag-
er-Contact Center Operations at TDS Telecommunications. Joraanstad and teammates/Olympians Erika Brown, Allison Pottinger
and Natalie Nicholson advanced to the playoffs of every World Curling Tour event the team competed in and finished the season ranked No. 14 in the world in the yearlong standings. Te team went through the 2016 National Championships with a 7-1 record and contributed to Team North
// COCKY ROCKY COMIC STRIP
Nine-time U.S. women’s national champion and Olympian Nicole Joraans- tad announced her retirement from competitive curling in July. Joraanstad played second for Team USA in Vancouver (above) at the 2010 Olympic Win- ter Games.
Photo by Steve Seixiero for USA Curling
America’s success at the 2016 Continental Cup in Las Vegas in January. “Although I am retiring from competitive curling, I look forward to con-
tinuing to share my love of curling with others. And someday, share the love of curling with my children just as I was shown by my parents 21 years ago,” Joraanstad said.Q
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