John Shuster Of Duluth Wins Trials Going To His 5th Olympics
Team John Shuster has been made fun of by a meme saying the Olympic team looks like a bunch of Dads that got away from their families for the weekend and somehow ended up competing in the Olympics.
Well, the Dads got revenge on the meme maker. John Shuster beat Team Dropkin to take the championship and qualify for another trip to the Olympics.
Obviously, now that Shuster is going back the expectations are higher. When John went last time they went the USA team had only one medal and usually didn't even do well enough to make it to the medal round.
In an interview you can watch below, John says now he might have a target on his back because the team now has gold. The teams he competes against have been there before and they know him now and want to beat him. Only one member of his team is different from the last time Shuster went to the Olympics, but John says he knows Chris Plys so well and for so long he feels like he has known him for a decade.
On the women's side, according to USA Curling Tabitha Peterson is going back to the Olympics. In a story from Apple News/NBC Sports shared by Yahoo!, Team Peterson had to beat a team skipped by Duluthian Cory Christensen on Saturday night to qualify for the Beijing Winter Games.
Peterson and the team were the favorites and didn't disappoint only dropping a game and then meeting Team Christensen for the chance to go back to the Olympics. In a statement Peterson gave NBC Sports, she wants to end the 15-year drought for medals. She is facing a similar situation that John Shuster faced when he won the Gold Medal. The USA men's team had only won the Bronze and nothing else.
Here is the moment that John Shuster won the chance to go back to the Olympics. Listen to the respect he has for his opponents. The cool part about this exchange and this match, they know each other very well. Both of these teams are from Duluth. They have also battled each other many times.