Sandra Schmirler
Sandra Marie Schmirler (June 11, 1963 – March 2, 2000) was a Canadian
curler who captured three Canadian Curling Championships (
Scott Tournament of Hearts) and three
World Curling Championships. Schmirler also
skipped (captained) her Canadian team to a gold medal at the
1998 Winter Olympics, the first year
women's curling was a medal sport. At tournaments where she was not competing, Schmirler sometimes worked as a commentator for
CBC Sports, which popularized her nickname "
Schmirler the Curler" and claimed she was the only person who had a name that rhymed with the sport she played. She died in 2000 at 36 of cancer, leaving a legacy that extended outside of curling. Schmirler was honoured posthumously with an induction into the
Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and was awarded the World Curling Freytag Award, which later led to her induction into the
World Curling Federation Hall of Fame.
In 2019, Schmirler was named the second greatest Canadian female curler in history (after
Jennifer Jones) in a
TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers. Schmirler's Olympic team, which also included
Jan Betker,
Joan McCusker and
Marcia Gudereit, was named the greatest female Canadian curling team of all time as part of the same poll.
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