Canada curling duo Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman compete in the mixed doubles round robin phase of the competition against Switzerland on Monday in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.Fatima Shbair/The Associated Press
Canadian curlers Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman will need some time to process the pain of missing the Olympic playoffs in mixed doubles.
Canada’s husband-and-wife team finished their Winter Games with an 8-4 win over Switzerland on Monday, but had already been eliminated from the playoffs on Sunday by losing to Korea. They finished with a 4-5 record, not good enough to make the Olympic semi-finals. That’s tough for a Canadian curler to swallow.
“There’s a lot of disappointment and a lot of hurt,” said Peterman. “I hope when it’s not as fresh that we can be proud of how we fought out there.”
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Canada's Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman of play a match against Sweden on Sunday.Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
As Peterman began to cry while talking to reporters, her husband tried to help finish her thought. They looked into each other’s eyes often while trying to describe how crushed they feel after starting the bonspiel 3-0 and then dropping five straight, missing a shot to play for a medal.
Mixed doubles brought the two athletes, both from Chestermere, Alta., together a decade ago when they formed a team. Now, they are married and have a two-year-old son, Luke. They were one of more than a dozen real-life partners competing together at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
The husband-and-wife team finished with a 4-5 record, and did not make the semifinals.Issei Kato/Reuters
“You both know what each other are feeling. There’s no guessing at how much it hurts,” said Gallant, looking at his wife. “It’s a sad hug at the end of the day, because you’re both going through that disappointment. But we’ll always have each other.”
Gallant still has a shot at a medal in Cortina. He will throw second stones for the Canadian four-man team, skipped by Brad Jacobs. Their bonspiel begins Wednesday, with Canada facing Germany.
But Peterman is done competing at these Winter Games. She will move out of the athletes village on Tuesday and into a house where their parents are staying with their toddler. She plans to be at all of Gallant’s games.
“We’ll try to support the bigger Team Canada, and show Luke some other sports,” said Peterman. “We’ll be in the stands cheering.”
It’s the second consecutive Olympics where Canada won’t be in the mixed doubles playoffs, after Rachel Homan and John Morris also missed in 2022. Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes earned gold in the discipline at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games when mixed doubles made its Olympic debut.
Mixed doubles brought Peterman and Gallant, both from Chestermere, Alta., together a decade ago when they formed a team.ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images
Peterman and Gallant both also play on four-person curling teams, but they said they had enough mixed doubles training time and games before the Olympics. They said they found it tough to adapt to conditions at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, where textured rocks and faster, straighter ice conditions presented a challenge.
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“We should have went to the bowling alley, played a couple frames midweek, because that would have helped us the way the ice was,” said Gallant.
“Some teams did better than us, and that’s just the way it went.”
Peterman elaborated.
“We’ve had the luxury of playing a lot of mixed doubles on really great ice conditions and that’s kind of why we love the sport,” said Peterman. “We haven’t really played too much on the small-town club circuit, so maybe that’s kind of the one area where we didn’t have as much experience as some of the other teams.
Gallant will throw second stones for the Canadian four-man team in Cortina. Their bonspiel begins Wednesday, with Canada facing Germany.Issei Kato/Reuters
“When you’re playing with those kind of rocks and that kind of ice conditions, it is a different throw, a different release. And we didn’t practise that. We had, I guess, expectations that we would have similar conditions to what we’ve competed on in past.”
Gallant can now use his knowledge of the venue in the men’s event. He said he’ll take some time to rest and then refocus quickly.
“The boys are really excited to get in here, so that’s going to be probably some energy that I need right now, some good, positive vibes,” said Gallant. “It’s a bit of a pivot, but a fresh start is something to look forward to for myself.”