The Ottawa Curling Club could soon have an Olympian in its midst.
Craig Savill trains there regularly and is on his way as lead of the Glenn Howard team to the Roar of the Rings in Edmonton Dec. 6 – a tournament that will determine which curling teams in Canada will make it to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
“I think it would be a dream come true for all of us. We set our sights on this three years ago, when we decided to make a really good run at the Olympics,” Savill says.
He and Glenn Howard will face seven other curling teams who have also made it to this final Olympic trial. The entire process to qualify for the 2010 Olympics has taken three years, yet as one of the top teams in Canada Glenn Howard already knew they were going to Roar of the Rings a year and a half ago.
Between constant ice time, a summer of gruelling physical training (including a 100km hike he and teammate Brent Laing completed in 21 hours), and mental preparation with a sports psychologist, Savill feels he and Glenn Howard would be ready to go to the Olympics tomorrow.
Yet he says he feels the competition at the Roar of the Rings will be more of a challenge than at the actual Olympics. Curling in Canada has such depth, he says each Canadian team could easily bring home a medal from the Olympics. When they compete against each other for that spot, since their skills are equally matched what matters is who will be able to focus through the pressure.
Laing agrees.
“Once you get to the final eight in Canada it’s pretty much anybody’s game, depending on who gets hot for that week.”
He says that whoever wins the spot for Canada’s curling team would be a likely choice for gold in Vancouver.
Joe Pavia, curling columnist for the Ottawa Sun and owner of Hogline Curlers Proshop, says that the final trial for the Olympics has always been unpredictable.
“I was at the last Olympic trials, and one can always expect the unexpected. Last year it was a team that no one thought would win that won, the Olympic trials before that it was an unheralded team that won,” he says. “So one just doesn’t know what happens, because it’s a pressure-cooker for both the men and the women.”
He says along with the other top Canadian team, Kevin Martin, Glenn Howard might also face competition from the Jason Gunnlaugson team – another unlikely underdog who has a chance because there are no expectations on them and thus no pressure.
Savill says even if Glenn Howard doesn’t make it to the Olympics this will allow them to compete in the Canadian Brier championships. However he’s already been to three Briers, but the Olympics is still new territory.
“I think this would really be a feather in our cap for all of us to get there, especially to be able to represent Canada on our home soil,” he says.
Laing agrees. “It would be basically the culmination of a life-long dream. Everybody dreams of being in the Olympics.”