Marcia Gudereit was recruited to Sandra Schmirler’s curling rink (team) at its onset in 1990 by teammate Joan McCusker to play lead. With determination and hard work the team took the Canadian National and World Championships in 1993, 1994, and 1997, becoming the first Canadian women to win more than one national championship with the same lineup. They also earned the right to represent Canada at the 1998 Winter Olympics and did not disappoint, winning a gold medal at the curling tournament. Their excitement from victory crumbled two years later when Schmirler, the team’s skip (captain), died of cancer in 2000. In 2003 Jan Betker reluctantly took the skip position and recruited Sherry Linton to join the rink, but they never experienced the same success that they had under Schmirler. As of 2009 she and Betker are the last remaining original members on the squad. Outside of curling Gudereit works as a systems analyst for The Co-operators, a Canadian insurance company. She also serves on the advisory board for the Sandra Schmirler Foundation, organized in memory of Schmirler in 2001 to help care for infants in crisis. Alongside her Olympic team she was inducted into the Curling Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Canada Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.
Canada