There won’t be many Canadian athletes at the Winter Olympics busier than Brett Gallant.
The Canadian curler’s schedule has him hitting the ice two days before the Games start and potentially finishing just one day before the closing ceremonies. He can be forgiven if he doesn’t have any hurry hard left in the tank when it’s all over.
Gallant, a three-time Brier winner, will become the first Canadian to compete in both the Mixed Doubles and the Four-Player competition at the Olympics. Prior to this year’s Games, Curling Canada wouldn’t allow curlers to play in both disciplines at the same Olympics.
He’ll team up with his wife, Jocelyn Peterman, for the first event, and then join the men’s team skipped by Brad Jacobs with third Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert for the next part.
“It’s going to be one day after the next,” said Gallant, who was born and raised in Charlottetown, PEI, but now makes his home in Chestermere, Alta. “It’s eat, sleep, curl. It’s going to be busy, but at the same time, there’s nothing I’d rather be doing. It’s what I love to do, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
At first glance, Gallant’s schedule seems exhausting. He and Peterman start on Wednesday, two days before the official opening of the Games, and play on each of the next five days. Should the team make it to the semis and on to the final, they will play on Feb 10 and 11, making it eight consecutive days of competition.
After a one-day break, the men’s competition starts. If Team Canada reaches the gold-medal match, slated for Feb. 21, it means another eight days of play with just a single day off before the final.
“It’s nice that here’s two different disciplines,” Gallant stated. “I always say over the course of the year, when you get to switch between mixed doubles and men’s, it makes each discipline a bit more refreshing and just mixes it up a little bit. It gets you a little bit out of the monotony of a long season. So, to be able to do that here and have that switch halfway through, I’m just looking forward to that.”
Mixed Doubles is a relative newcomer to the Olympic lineup. This will be the third Games where it’s been on the schedule. While there have been curlers who have won medals in both disciplines, no curler has done it in the same Olympics.
The Canadian team of John Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes won gold in 2018. Morris was also part of the men’s gold-medal winning team in 2010, while Lawes captured gold in the women’s event in 2014.
Morris returned for Mixed Doubles in 2022, but he and Rachel Homan failed to make the playoffs. That year, Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner won gold for Italy. They will defend their title this year in front of a home-country audience.
Both Gallant and Peterman were at the 2022 Olympics with Gallant playing for Brad Gushue and Peterman lining up with Jennifer Jones. The men’s team won a bronze medal while the women’s side failed to make the playoffs.
Those Games, affected by COVID, were unlike any previous one. Athletes were severely restricted in where they could move in the Olympic village, and fans were forbidden from attending the events. This time, Gallant expects, it will be more like a traditional competition.
“I think that experience we gained in Beijing is going to be really helpful,” Gallant stated. “And there’s no one going for the first time, on either mixed doubles team or our men’s team, which adds a lot of comfort there. I’m really excited that it’s what I would call a normal Games. Beijing was a little bit different with the pandemic. So, we’re going to have our normal crew of family and friends that are going to be around us at the event as well, which just feels normal, what we’re used to.”
The Olympics isn’t the only major competition upcoming for Gallant. Five days after the Games in Italy wrap up, the Montana’s Brier begins in St. John’s, Nfld. The Jacobs team is the defending champion and will be there to try and defend the title. Should it do that, there would be a trip to the world championships in Ogden, Utah, to add on.
“It’s one event at a time,” Gallant stated. “They’re really exciting events. They’re not hard events to get up for. You talk about the Olympics, the Brier, potentially world championships. These events are exciting ones to have on the calendar. It’s not like we’re going to the local cashspiel in the middle of nowhere or anything like that. It’s exciting. Even at this stage of my career, I love playing these big events.”
Gallant and Peterman open their quest for gold on Wednesday at 1:05 p.m. ET, in a match against the team from Czechia.
