Photo from the Team Gushue Facebook page.

By Curtis Galbraith

Curling

Walker, Team Gushue teammates preparing to represent Canada in Beijing

Jan 16, 2022 | 7:00 AM

Team Gushue has gathered in Vancouver to prepare to represent Canada at the Beijing Olympics.

Lead and Beaverlodge product Geoff Walker says the team will be taking a commercial flight to China on February 4 rather than a charter on January 29 with other athletes.

This is so they can continue to practice, something they could not do in the host city as access to facilities is not allowed.

He adds they are getting more information on the requirements once they get there.

“The biggest thing is we have got to have a negative test (for COVID-19) both 96 hours and 72 hours before we depart to China. Once we get in, there is more testing done,” Walker explained.

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“(We then) go to the staging hotel and wait for our results to come in there and as long as everything is negative at that point, we go to the athlete’s village.”

Walker says they are staying in a rented house in Vancouver while training.

He adds training has been tough as plans keep changing because of the growing COVID-19 situation in Canada..

“We haven’t played a competitive game since the trials, but I think a lot of the countries are going to be in the same boat. Everybody wants to make sure they’re healthy and able to get over to China,” he said.

“We’ve played together for so long that games will come as long as the opportunity to practice together and get ready.”

Walker says they have gone to a lot of events in the past where they practiced hard as opposed to playing a lot of games.

Canada plays Denmark in its first game on February 9. It will start at 5 a.m. Alberta time, 8 p.m. in Beijing.