Team Gushue return to Canada with curling pride intact

Brad Gushue and the Canada men's curling team did something important for their nation at the Winter Olympics Beijing 2022.

By defeating the USA 8-5 in a thrilling North American encounter, and winning the bronze medal, they kept Canada's streak of winning a medal at each Winter Games since curling's debut at Nagano 1998 alive.

Team Gushue could not hold back their emotions as their victory was confirmed in the Ice Cube last Friday (18 February).

And the tears flowed again on Tuesday as they returned home to St. John's International Airport in Newfoundland.

'Lot of tears shed in last four or five days'

"I was like, 'Oh my God, I'm going to have to cry again,'" Gushue told reporters in reaction to the crowd of family and supporters who came to the airport to greet their bronze medal heroes.

"There's been a lot of tears shed in the last four or five days, ever since the semi-final game. To see the family tear up, I started to tear up. It's been a long journey — 16 years — to get this opportunity again."

Team Gushue won gold at Torino 2006 but, such is the fierce competition within Canadian curling, had to wait until Beijing 2022 to go for another medal.

'All of us missed our families'

"The biggest challenge this time around was the lack of fans in the stands," Gushue told reporters at St. John's International Airport. "You don't have that energy that you have sometimes at these big events and certainly the energy from your family and supporters.

"When things are going bad, they're there for support and when things are going good, they're there to keep you going. We had to get that through FaceTime and phone calls, so it would've been nice to have them over there, but again, we tried to make them feel as much a part of this as we could.

"I don't know if it was necessarily harder, it was just much different. Much, much different. Just with the whole pandemic, and us having to isolate before this made it a little bit more of a challenge and I think all of us started to miss home and miss our families."

One of the most heartwarming moments of the arrival party was when Gushue took his bronze medal off and put it around one of his daughter's necks.

He added, "When I first got to see an Olympic medal it was a special moment for me, so for any kids or any adults who haven't had the opportunity to see it, you want to share it."

Mark Nichols played third for Gushue in Turin, and returned to Beijing 2022 to play another key role in bringing home a medal for Team Canada.

"We've been through pretty much everything a team can go through," Nichols told reporters at the airport. "Briers, World Championships, Grand Slams, Olympic trials and now Olympics. It was a special moment to be able to be on the Olympic stage with this team."

Team Gushue won't have long to rest as they will start preparing for the 2022 Brier in Alberta, which gets going on 4 March.

Don't expect fireworks from the rink, however, with Gushue telling media they were "mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted" after their Beijing exploits.