In a series of short profiles, Capital Current introduces some of the people working hard to improve life in Ottawa.
Who is she?
Lisa Weagle is an award-winning curler who competed in the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympic Games and a three-time Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion. She is currently coaching and competing as part of one of Canada’s top-ranked mixed doubles teams.
What’s her background?
Weagle, an Ottawa resident all her life, is a graduate of Nepean High School and the University of Ottawa. She began curling at the Granite Curling Club when she was eight. Weagle was the lead on skip Rachel Homan’s team from 2010 to 2020 before joining Team Jennifer Jones for two years. More recently, Weagle has started her own curling academy where she coaches and is a consultant.
What is she known for in Ottawa?
Weagle is the Chef de Mission for the 2024 Youth Olympic Games (YOG), where she will be a mentor and cheerleader for “the next generation” of athletes. The YOG is in Gangwon, South Korea. The country where Weagle had her first Olympic curling experience. “It will be great to get back to where it all started,” she told Capital Current. Weagle says she has always represented her hometown proudly all over the world.
What do people say about her?
From rivals to teammates, Weagle is considered one of the best leads in the sport. “She is just salt of the earth, great human being, super smart, very intuitive about curling, great work ethic, great teammate,” Jennifer Jones told CBC in an April 2020 interview.
In an article for Ottawa Sports Pages, fellow Ottawan and lead Dawn McEwen, who joined Weagle at the Beijing Olympics, said, “We’ve been rivals for probably over 10 years [and] whenever I would play — like I would get up to play against Lisa — I knew I wanted to play well.”
What’s a lesser-known (or fun) fact about her?
She loves her corgi, Trooper. Her mother, Brenda Chapman, is a mystery author with more than 20 books published.
