Kelly Schafer
 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 April 1981[1] Dundee[1] |
| Height | 1.54 m (5 ft 1 in)[1] |
| Weight | 56 kg (8 st 11 lb; 123 lb)[1] |
| Sport | |
| Country | Scotland United Kingdom |
| Sport | Curling |
| Club | Swift Current[1] |
Kelly Schafer (born 8 April 1981 in Dundee as Kelly Wood) is a Scottish curler who has represented her home country and Great Britain on an International and Olympic level. She currently lives in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, but is not yet a Canadian citizen.
Schafer made her curling debut at Letham Grange Ice Rink in 1999 competing in the World Junior Curling Championships. Playing as a second curler the team finished a respectable fifth position. She has competed in numerous European and World championships and has been skip of the curling team four times.
Scotland's curling dominance over the two other host nations of Great Britain secured its place at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Schafer was shortlisted along with nine other female curlers to be considered for a place on the women's Olympic team and became successful to travel to Turin to defend Rhona Martin's Olympic gold that Team GB won in Salt Lake City in 2002. She joined Rhona Martin, Lynn Cameron, Jackie Lockhart and Debbie Knox. As in her other international games, Shaefer played second throughout the Olympic competition. However, despite beating U.S. 10–4 after only six ends, Team GB's Olympic hopes were shattered as Canada beat Denmark in a nail-biting match in the final end. A win over Canada by Denmark would have enabled Great Britain to go into a playoff to compete for the last semi-final position. When interviewed after the game Kelly conceded Team GB's loss was "gutting" but added "we [Team GB] have to take the positives out of this." Schafer won her first medal at an international event at the 2007 World Women's Curling Championship. She skipped Scotland with team mates Jackie Lockhart, Lorna Vevers, Lindsay Wood and Karen Addison to a bronze medal. Scotland won the bronze medal by losing in the semi-final to Denmark, skipped by Angelina Jensen.
While representing Scotland at the 2010 World Championships in Swift Current, Kelly Wood met the mayor, Jerrod Schafer, and a romance developed. She would later move to the town. Kelly and Jerrod Schafer became a married couple in 2013.[2] They have one child together.[3]
She can no longer compete in her native Scotland, although she was invited to participate in the 2012 World Championships in Lethbridge, Alberta as Scotland's alternate; she served again as Scotland's 5th player at the 2017 World Championships in Beijing, China, and as alternate for Great Britain in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Although not a Canadian citizen, Schafer played for Saskatchewan at the 2014 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship.
References
- ^ a b c d e "Kelly Wood". Team GB Vancouver 2010. Archived from the original on 18 February 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Only in Canada: A mayor and a skip fall in love over curling. Swift Current Mayor Jerrod Schafer found love on the ice with professional curler Kelly Wood". CBC News. 14 February 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
- ^ http://www.curling.ca/wp-content/blogs.dir/58/files/2016/03/WORLD-WED-ALL.pdf
- Kubatko, Justin. "Kelly Wood Biography and Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
- 1981 births
- Living people
- Sportspeople from Dundee
- Curlers at the 2006 Winter Olympics
- Scottish female curlers
- Olympic curlers of Great Britain
- Curlers at the 2010 Winter Olympics
- Curlers at the 2018 Winter Olympics
- Curlers from Saskatchewan
- People from Swift Current
- Canadian women curlers
- Scottish emigrants to Canada