At the beginning of the 2005 Olympic curling trials, Shannon Kleibrink and her rink (team) might not have seemed like the obvious choice to represent Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics, as her success over the past decade had always been sporadic. She won her first Alberta provincial championship in 1993 as the skip (captain) of her own team, but eleven years would pass before she won another in 2004. During this time she won no major tournaments, but did finish as runner-up at the 1997 Olympic trials, losing in the final match to Sandra Schmirler rink. The year of her second provincial championship was also the year that she took the 2004 Canadian Mixed Curling Championships, which put helped put her on the sport’s national map as the first woman to win that tournament as skip. Perhaps her greatest victory, however, came the following year at the 2005 Olympic trials where, despite going 1-3 for her first four matches, she took the event after winning the next seven games. At the 2006 Winter Olympic curling tournament she brought home a bronze medal against a field of strong teams. Since the Olympics she has remained an active and successful competitor, winning the 2008 Alberta Provincial Championship and coming in as runner-up at both the 2008 Canadian Championship and the 2009 Olympic trials. As of 2009 Amy Nixon, who plays third, is the only remaining member from the 2006 Olympic Team Kleibrink.
Canada