Australian curlers treated like 'family' in Canmore in preparation for Olympics

CANMORE – Johnny Mo and Rachel Homan weren’t the only Olympic-bound curlers training in Canmore before Beijing.

Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt, Australia’s historic mixed doubles duo, made the Canadian Rockies home for the past four months in preparation as Oz’s first representative in curling at the Winter Olympic Games.

“It was just such a huge moment, and for us, our ultimate goal was qualifying for the Olympics for Australia,” said Gill. “That’s going to be huge having an Aussie representative at these Olympics just to grow the sport in Australia is going to be huge.”

Coming from a nation without a dedicated curling sheet, Gill and Hewitt defeated South Korea, 6-5, at the qualification tournament in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, last December, to earn Australia’s first-ever curling berth at the Games.

Hewitt thinks there are fewer curlers in all of Australia than there are at the Canmore Golf and Curling Club, a club of approximately 270 members, where the duo’s headquarters have been since September 2021.

“It is very small and a lot of people don’t really know what it is and just refer to it as that sport that has that sweeping or brushing involved,” he said. “So you do get a lot of stares from people, but a lot of people really get on the bandwagon and really support you and think it’s really cool once they see it and understand it.”

In Canmore, the pair has been training diligently alongside two-time Olympic gold medallist, John Morris – their coach, and now, mixed doubles rival in Beijing.

The team has worked with Morris, who won gold in mixed doubles debut in PyeongChang 2018, for about two years.

However, the connection has been much longer.

“The relationship between Australia and the Morris family is actually an old one and a really cool one,” said Hewitt. “My dad used to be coached by Earle Morris, so John’s father, and so we had that relationship for a long time and a couple of years ago we wanted to take it to the next level and we thought about who would be the best person to take us aboard and had a really good backing in mixed doubles. We said there isn’t anyone better than an Olympic gold medallist so we gave John a phone call and he was really excited to work with us and I think it was that natural bond between our families for many years there.”

Morris suggested bringing their camp to Canmore, where the Australians could not only train, but compete in the high-end mixed doubles tournament the Qualico Classic, held in Banff and Canmore.

“The Canmore Golf and Curling Club has really looked after us so well and they’ve been treating us like pretty much family and taking care of us so it’s definitely a place we’ll be based out of a lot in the future,” said Gill.

Morris said in a previous interview with the Outlook that he would have gone to Beijing as a coach if he and Homan hadn’t been nominated by Curling Canada for mixed doubles.

So it happens, the master and pupils face off in the round robin tournament in Beijing on Feb. 6 at 5:05 a.m. MST.

Although, both teams are eyeing a bigger showdown in the gold medal match.

“That would be the best outcome possible,” said Hewitt with a laugh. “We were expecting he was going to get in and if we can make the final against him that would be absolutely unreal and such a fun game. Whoever won that would be really supportive of the other team that would without a doubt be the highlight.”

For a full mixed doubles schedule, visit www.olympics.com.