Photo: WCF/Stephen Fisher

By Shane Clausing

walker wins bronze

Beaverlodge’s Walker back on Canadian soil after earning Olympic bronze medal

Feb 25, 2022 | 1:20 PM

Beaverlodge’s Geoff Walker is back on Canadian soil after securing a bronze medal at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

Walker is a member of Team Gushue, who qualified to represent Canada at the Olympic Curling Trials in November.

Prior to participating in the Olympics, Walker and his team had to isolate themselves in their own miniature bubble in Vancouver. The team stayed in a rented house and practiced before they made the trip over to China.

MORE: Walker honoured to wear the maple leaf in Beijing

Because of strict COVID-19 protocols, a positive test would have potentially led to a player or team not being able to compete and missing out on the competition.

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“It was obviously a long experience doing the isolation for three weeks before we even headed over, but it was a great experience,” he explained. “Getting over there and staying in the athletes’ village with all the other athletes and that whole experience of seeing top athletes in other sports was pretty cool.”

Walker says the bubble was tight to start with, but as the competition started to pick up, athletes became more comfortable with mixing and mingling with each other.

“We were daily PCR tested in the bubble. You still have to mask up and everything like that. We were able to go to a few events before our competition started and were able to watch some long-track speedskating, short-track and big air.”

Walker adds they were able to make friends with the Canadian men’s hockey team while checking out the events.

“A lot of the men’s hockey players were watching the same events we were because they didn’t start until (February) 10th and we didn’t start until the 9th,” he mentioned. “We wanted to take in as much different sports as you can see live, so we were doing that and got to mix with a lot of them.”

Because the Olympics were in a bubble, athletes were able to hop on busses and see whatever events they would like.

In the Olympic curling tournament, Walker and Team Canada finished pool play with a 5-4 record, which was good enough for a spot in the semi-final against Sweden.

Sweden ended up defeating Canada 5-3 in the semi-final to advance to play for gold, while Walker and Canada had to come back the next day and play for bronze.

Walker tells EverythingGP losing in the semi-final was tough for them since they thought they’d leave Beijing with a gold medal.

While they were heartbroken after the game and had to play 24 hours late, Walker credits long-time Canadian Olympic curler Mark Kennedy for getting them motivated and ready to play for bronze.

“It was a tight turnaround. Mark Kennedy was there, and it was his third Olympics. He actually lost the bronze medal last time and he said it was one of the bigger regrets in his career,” Walker said.

“We had a talk and he had a pretty good little speech and I think it really got us focusing on that game. We wanted to make sure we were coming home with a bronze and with a medal.”

Walker adds it’s a privilege to wear a bronze medal around his neck.

“It’s an honour. There are only so many people who can say they were medalists at the Olympics, let alone be an Olympian. In order to do that, I’m obviously very grateful. Obviously, you always want to win when you start a competition, but even coming away with a bronze is very exciting.”

Walker and the rest of the Brad Gushue rink will be planning on playing in the 2022 Brier in Lethbridge next week. He also says the team plans on participating in a couple of other events as well before the season ends.

He thanks the Peace Region for cheering him on while over in Beijing.