PRESIDENT’S NEWSLETTER May 2013 Inside this issue: Welcome Following the conclusion of the 2012/13 creased interest in our sport that these World Curling Federation Championship events will bring, so keep up the good work! WCF News 1 season, I would like to take a moment to Remember, you can read more about each story reflect on what has been one of the most 2 by clicking on the headline. exciting and dynamic seasons for our sport 3 to date. Since February’s newsletter, several new 4 World Champions have been crowned and we have seen some top class curling action at Development 5 our events. Media & MA News 6 Congratulations to all of this season’s medal winners and to the teams who have qualified Deadlines 7 their nations directly for next year’s Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi. With the Olympic and Paralympic season ahead of us, there is no time to sit back. Exciting times are ahead as the WCF holds its inaugural Olympic Qualifying Event in De- cember in Füssen, Germany, where the final teams for Sochi will be decided. FWMCC 2013 Chief Umpire, Rae Kells, presents Swedish Skip, Niklas Edin, with the Collie Campbell Memorial We must all be ready to deal with the in- Special points of Sportsmanship Award Photo: WCF/CCA/Michael Burns interest: World Championships Round-up (p1-3) Ford World Men’s Curling Championship 2013 Event announcements Congratulations to Sweden who qualify their NOCs directly for (p3) were crowned 2013 World the Olympic Winter Games, Men’s Curling Champions in along with host Russia. Hall of Fame (p3) Victoria, Canada in April. Victoria proved once more to New Commissions (p4) Congratulations to Canada be an excellent venue for a Camps & Courses (p5) (silver); Scotland (bronze and World Championship event and CEP & DAP update (p5) whose Olympic qualification our thanks go to everyone in- points are allocated to Great volved in making it such a suc- Job Opportunities (p6) B r i t a i n ) ; N o r w a y ; cess, especially the local organis- Event hosts sought (p7) Denmark; China and Switzerland ers and hundreds of volunteers. Sweden, 2013 World Men’s Champions who all earned enough points to Photo: WCF/CCA/Michael Burns Remember, click on the headers or bold words to take you through to more information/full story Page 2 May 2013 Newsletter Titlis Glacier Mountain World Women’s Curling Championship 2013 Scotland were crowned ifying directly for the 2014 World Women’s Curling Olympic Winter Games. Champions 2013 in Riga, They are joined by host Latvia in March in a fantastic Russia and two qualifiers show of curling action. from December’s Olympic Sweden picked up silver and Qualification Event which Canada won the bronze takes place in Füssen, Ger- medals. many. These three teams (Scotland This was Latvia’s first World earning Olympic qualifica- Curling Championship and I tion points for Great Brit- would like to thank every- Scotland, World Women’s Curling Champions ain) join Switzerland; USA; one involved in organising a Photo: WCF/Richard Gray Denmark and Korea in qual- first class event. World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2013 Hungary made curling histo- Sweden picked up the silver This event was run along- ry in Fredericton, New medals and the Czech Re- side the World Senior Curl- Brunswick, winning their public won bronze. ing Championships and was first ever World Curling With 27 teams competing in a great opportunity for ath- Championship title. this event, it proves just letes, spectators and every- Hungary’s Zsolt Kiss and how popular the discipline one involved in the event to Dorottya Palancsa defeated continues to be with our see first hand the level of Sweden 8-7 in the final to Member Associations. skill required to play Mixed Hungary, World Mixed Doubles Curl- Doubles curling. ing Champions 2013 win the gold medals. Photos: WCF/Richard Gray World Junior Curling Championships 2013 Well done to all of the medal winners at the World Junior Curling Championships which was held as a test event in the Olympic venue, the Ice Cube Curling Center, in Sochi, Russia in March. Russia’s women delighted local spectators as they won the gold medal, beating Scot- land who picked up silver while Japan won the bronze medals. In the men’s champi- onship, Scotland won gold, Russia silver and Canada won bronze. This was the second of two test events held in the Olympic venue ahead of next year’s Olympic Winter Games and I would like to thank everyone involved in making it such a great event. The standard of play was exceptional and I’m confident the future of our sport is in good hands. The Ice Cube Curling Center proved to be an excellent venue and I’m sure every- one heading to the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi next year will Russia women and Scotland men, World Junior Curling Champions 2013 have a great experience. Photo: WCF/Richard Gray May 2013 Newsletter Page 3 World Senior Curling Championships 2013 There was some fantastic curling on display at this year’s World Senior Curling Cham- pionships. Congratulations to the Canadian men and women who both won gold. I would like to thank the local organising committee, sponsors and the 375 volunteers for making both Championships held in Fredericton such a success. On a sad note, at the start of the Championships, New Zealand’s Carolyn Cooney be- came seriously ill at the venue. A medical team was on hand and Carolyn was rushed to the local hospital. I have been in constant contact with her husband Pat, a member of the New Zealand Men’s team, who remains in Fredericton with Carolyn. She is still in Canada’s Senior men and women’s teams both won hospital but is making progress and they are hoping that soon she will be considered ‘fit the gold medals at the WSCC 2013 Photo: WCF/Richard Gray to fly’ home. Pat and Carolyn are grateful to the local community, hospital and curlers for all their help and support and I know that the curling family send their thoughts and prayers to both of them. Hall of Fame Entrants Two of Canada’s most accom- I was honoured to be able to plished curlers were inducted present both Ron and Don with into the World Curling Hall of their individual Freytag Awards Fame in April. to mark their induction. Three-time world champion Ron Nominations for the World Northcott and two-time world Curling Hall of Fame 2014 induc- champion Don Duguid were tees open in November 2013. officially inducted on April 7 More information about this and during the closing banquet of the other WCF awards can be found Ford World Men’s Curling here: www.worldcurling.org/ Canada’s Don Duguid (left) and Ron Northcott (right), 2013 induc- Championship 2013 in Victoria. world-curling-hall-of-fame tees to the World Curling Hall of Fame Photo: WCF/CCA/Michael Burns Event Announcements Over the last three months we have announced a number of hosts for 2013/14 season events. The first announcement confirmed that Füssen in Germany will host the World Curling Federation’s first Olympic Qualification Event between 11-15 December 2013. Shortly after that we announced that the Scottish capital city, Edinburgh, will host the Eu- ropean Mixed Curling Championships between 14-21 September 2013. Scotland will also host two World Championships next season in the form of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship and the World Senior Curling Championships which will take place side by side between 23-29 April 2014 in Dumfries. We were also pleased to confirm that Tärnby, Denmark will be hosting the European Curling Championship C-Group between 7-13 October 2013 and Lohja in Finland will be The BLZ Arena in Füssen, Germany, will host hosting the European Junior Curling Challenge between 3-8 January 2014. the Olympic Qualification Event in December Photo: WCF Page 4 May 2013 Newsletter Athlete Commission and Competition & Rules Commission We were delighted to have Olympic gold medallist and Wang from China; 2007 mission by reading the full received such a high calibre WCF Vice-President, Bent World Champion Kelly Scott story by clicking on the of nominations from around Ramsfjell, from Norway. from Canada; 2003 World headline above. the world for our first ever Champion Ann Swisshelm Six athletes were selected by Over the coming weeks and Athlete Commission and from the USA; two-time the WCF Executive Board months we look forward to Competition and Rules World Wheelchair Curling from a pool nominated working with the Athletes Commission. Champion and Paralympic by our Member Associa- Commission and Competi- silver medallist Michael Following a lengthy selection tions to form the inaugural tions and Rules Commission McCreadie from Scotland process, the Executive Board WCF Athlete Commission. to help shape and develop and 2006 European Champi- decided on the individuals They include: two-time the future of our great sport. that we believe will be best on Andreas Schwaller from Olympic gold medallist and The two Commissions will placed to serve both Com- Switzerland. two-time World Women’s meet for the first time at the missions. You can find out which indi- Curling Champion Cathrine WCF Annual Congress being viduals were selected for the The WCF Athlete Commis- Lindahl from Sweden; 2009 held in Copenhagen, Den- Competition & Rules Com- sion will be chaired by 2002 World Champion Bingyu mark in September. WCF / CCA extend partnership agreement We were happy to an- Championship events in Media, also agreed to nounce the extension of 2015-2018 to be deter- partnership terms with our partnership with the mined by the CCA, in the CCA relating to Canadian Curling Associ- consultation with the sponsorship and market- ation (CCA) which will WCF.