Defending Canadian champion Jennifer Jones is adding some Olympic depth as she prepares for the December curling trials in Halifax.
The team announced Tuesday that Olympic bronze medallist and two-time world champion Georgina Wheatcroft will join the Scott Tournament of Hearts champions as lead.
"I thought, wow, what a great opportunity, and I was in touch with them," Wheatcroft told The Canadian Press from her home in Vancouver.
"I spoke with all the girls and they interviewed me and chose me. I'm really, really excited that they had the guts to choose me," she said.
Wheatcroft will replace former lead Cathy Gauthier who made a decision to relinquish her position on the team due to family commitments.
For Jones, who finished out of the medals at the world championships this year, the choice of Wheatcroft was a no-brainer.
"Georgina will be an incredible addition to the team," Jones said from Winnipeg. "She has such a wealth of talent and experience and we are just thrilled that she agreed join the team."
It was Wheatcroft's Olympic and international experience that was the deciding factor in her selection.
"That was a big factor because she brings a lot of experience having gone through that before," said second Jill Officer.
"Because of the Olympic curling trials we knew we could go outside of Manitoba and her name came up and it was too hard to pass up."
Wheatcroft competed at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City winning the bronze medal as part of Kelley Law's rink. She also won the women's world curling championships in 1987 and 2000.
The 39-year-old Wheatcroft said she hopes she can put her experience to good use with her new teammates.
"There will be a bit of a fine line because obviously they have had a lot of success. I'm not going to go in and tell them a whole bunch of stuff," she said.
"In no way do I think that this is going to be Team Law - that we're going to try and duplicate and do things exactly the same. We'll do it the way that's best for us," said Wheatcroft.
Getting a chance to make a second trip to the Olympics is what is driving Wheatcroft this time around after the bronze in 2002.
"There's feelings that you really feel and there's feelings that you try to feel and when I speak about my Olympic experience it's really hard to get through it without talking about the fact we went there for gold and when we lost on last rock to Scotland the Olympic dream was shattered," Wheatcroft said.
"It was extremely hard but we pulled it together and went back and won the bronze medal."
Wheatcroft said the third place finish doesn't diminish how excited both children and adults alike get when they get to hold her bronze medal. She said disappointments at the Athens Olympics put it into perspective that there are no guarantees in the world of sport.
But there's no doubt Wheatcroft wants another crack at bring gold home to Canada.
"There is nobody in sport that doesn't want a gold medal but the reality is there's not any guarantee - it's a lot of hard work - and I will put in the work and hopefully that will pay off," she said.
Wheatcroft said between now and the Olympic trials she will be spend more than half of her time with her new teammates in Winnipeg.
The Jones team also announced that Janet Arnott would join the rink as coach. She is a three-time Scott Tournament of Hearts champion and was world champion in 1984.
"Janet will bring a significant amount of knowledge to the team," said third Cathy Overton-Clapham. "We know she will do an amazing job."