According to Canadian curler Brad Gushue, game preparation has been “trying to avoid a virus.
On Christmas Day, Brad Gushue said his parents and his in-laws farewell, letting them know he probably wouldn’t see them until late February.
Since then, he and his wife and two daughters have been holed up in their home in St. John’s, NL, doing their very best to avoid any possible exposure to the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus.
Gushue, who earned the right to represent Canada in curling at the Winter Games in Beijing (Feb. 5-20), is full men’sy aware that if he, or any of his teammates, test positive now, their Olympic dreams could be dashed.
“It’s terrifying, to be honest,” Gushue said in a phone interview Tuesday. “You work so hard to get a chance to represent your country at the Olympics and the thought of having it taken away because you have a virus that’s lower risk for vaccinated people in our age group, it’s a hard thing to take.
“But I certainly understand all the testing requirements and the need for the isolation, so we’ve been laying low.”
It’s a situation that doesn’t just affect Gushue and his teammates, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant, Geoff Walker and (alternate player) Marc Kennedy. None of them can afford to have their families at risk either, so pretty much everyone is in isolation.
“It’s a big sacrifice,” Gushue said. “My wife is having to stay home from work as well and is probably going to have to take some time, unpaid.
“We were going to hold the girls out of school too, but fortunately, and unfortunately, our province has gone online for a couple weeks. It worked well for us that we don’t have to pull them out … they’re not gonna fall behind because they can do it online.”
“You work so hard to get a chance to represent your country at the Olympics and the thought of having it taken away because you have a virus that’s lower risk for vaccinated people in our age group, it’s a hard thing to take.”
It will be this way until Jan. 13, when Gushue and his teammates — three of them live in St. John’s and two in Edmonton — will gather in Vancouver for pre-Olympic practice sessions.
“We’re gonna get out of here and go to Vancouver for three weeks,” Gushue said. “We don’t want to be a burden on all of our families, cause they’re having to isolate as well, and it will also allow us a chance to practice and get a little closer to Beijing and actually see each other as a team. All of our (Curling Canada) training camps have been cancelled, with travel requirements and things like that.”
The plan is to eventually depart for Beijing from Vancouver on Feb. 5, the day the Olympics start, and a few days before the start of the four-player curling competition. The Jennifer Jones team out of Winnipeg will practice in a different location and has a completely different travel plan for Beijing, where it will represent Canada in women’s curling.
The country’s mixed doubles curling representatives have not yet been determined, as the Olympic trials were cancelled late last month. Curling Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Own the Podium are currently working to select a mixed doubles team. The COC has to name its Olympic team by Jan. 24.
The Gushue and Jones teams won’t have played a single game between the Olympic trials final on Nov. 28 and the start of the Olympics, as many events are shut down due to the Omicron outbreak.
“Unfortunately, the biggest preparation for the Olympics is trying to avoid a virus, rather than training and competing in your sport,” Gushue said.
“But that’s the world we live in right now, in a pandemic.
“It just adds a curveball for every athlete preparing. You have to shift focus, because you could do everything right from a preparation standpoint and you socialize with the wrong person, at the wrong time, and your Olympic dream can go away. It’s a really odd situation so we’re just trying to minimize the risk as much as possible while trying to train as well. It’s a challenge, I’m not gonna lie.”
This is not unusual for any Canadian athletes right now. Everyone, in every sport, is going through something similar and some have not even completed qualifying for the Beijing Games as of yet.
“We’re all in isolation, twiddling our thumbs, wanting to be doing something and erring on the side of boredom right now,” Gushue said. “There’s a pressure that you feel and an anxiety that you have about the virus, getting it in the next 30 days before you get over there.”
Gushue, 41, admits the time at home with his family has been nice. Normally, at this time of year, he’s curling, in locations all over the country, but this year he and his daughters have been able to do a lot of things they don’t usually get to do.
He’s said he feels refreshed because of that, and that could help when he and his teammates get to Beijing.
But, of course, there’s a flip side.
“I am nervous and I do have anxiety,” he said.
“As much as we can reduce the risk, it’s not really in our control because we still have to interact with coaches and physio and massage and team doctors and things like that when we get together in Vancouver and as we go on to Beijing. We just have to hope that they’re doing all the right things as well.