Canada’s men’s skip delivered a final takeout
Canada men’s skip Brad Jacobs didn’t mince words at the final Olympic curling athlete media conference in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
The 40-year-old chucked one final stone before heading to Venice, a quick trip prior to his team’s flight home across the Atlantic.
Y’all ready for this? • ORIS“I don’t think we’re a team that needs any more motivation, but when some things went down this week and people were using some pretty outrageous words, like cheating, associated that (word) with our team, I’ll guarantee you that that only motivated us further,” said Jacobs, who was flanked by teammate Brett Gallant.
“Canada, and curling in Canada, is special to us. It means a lot to us. Integrity means a lot to us. And we wanted to go out there and prove everyone wrong and rise to the top of the podium.
“And I will say for anyone who called us cheaters, for anyone who said negative things about Marc Kennedy, about us, about Canada, about our families, I hope that the image of us standing on top of the podium, embracing one another, smiling ear to ear with our gold medals, is burned into your brain forever.”
This should surprise no one.
The very first thing Jacobs said in response to the first media question he received in a media conference back on Jan. 26 was:
“Do you think we’re a team who cares about who the favourite is? Or who people think the favourite is?”
Jacobs then spoke about what his team endured in Cortina.
ORIS“A lot of things that I don’t think that we deserved were thrown at us that we wouldn’t wish on anybody on the biggest stage in the world. So, yeah, it was a little bit of a grind. It was a tough week.
“Every day, though, we just built and got stronger and stronger and stronger and, as things kind of calmed down and World Curling was able to calm down the situation, it felt like we were able to get back to curling as normal.”
On the rule forbidding double-touching of the rock during delivery:
“We found out this week that that rule doesn’t exist in Canada. Where do the vast majority of the elite curling events occur? In what country? Canada, right? Where does everybody come to earn prize money and play in front of full arenas? Canada, right?
“So this is a brand-new rule that apparently was put in very recently, that I think World Curling really does need to do a deep dive on and take a look at. I’m sure they’re going to do that, especially after everything that happened here this week.
“It didn’t seem like they were prepared for what went down. It didn’t seem like officials were prepared to officiate it properly. And so it was a little bit of a mess.
“World Curling has got themselves into a mess a few times in recent years with different sweeping and foam and rules, and so hopefully, us as players can maybe get a little bit more involved and help them figure out the best thing moving forward for the sport, so that this type of nonsense doesn’t happen again.”
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