The U.S. The U.S. women’s curling team was surprised to learn that their loss to Canada on Friday is considered a major accomplishment in the Olympics.
After the 9-8 nail-biter, Minneapolis native Taylor Anderson-Heide expressed, “If that’s true, I think we played a really good game.” They’re No. 1 in the world.”
Tara Peterson of Shoreview, Minnesota, said, “It always feels amazing to beat Rachel Homan (Canada skip). So no matter what team beats her, it’s pretty impressive.”
Curling was added to the Olympics in 1998.
Until Friday, the U.S. women had never beaten Canada—a perennial favourite that has won a medal at every Winter Games since curling was added to the Olympics in 1998.
The U.S. men defeated the Canadians for the first time in the 2018 round-robin and then advanced to the semi-finals en route to their gold medal win in PyeongChang.
Canada’s Team Homan has been considered the best in the world for years.
The United States was able to take advantage of some weak shots from Canada in Friday’s match. After the victory, the Americans walked together onto the ice and back to their coaches, raising their fists in triumph.
Peterson, like Anderson-Heide, couldn’t resist adding a qualifier to his answer to questions from The Associated Press: “Obviously, we’ve never beaten them in the Olympics before. That makes it even more special.”
This year’s U.S. women’s curling team — like their Gen-Z men’s counterparts — combines reach with ambition. Along with Anderson-Heide and Peterson, the team also includes skip Tabitha Peterson, who is Tara’s older sister, as well as cool-as-a-cucumber Corey Thiese, who has already won a silver medal in the mixed doubles event. Minnesota’s Eileen Geving is an alternative.
Three of them have jobs other than curling and are mothers of three young children. Tara is a dentist, Tabitha is a pharmacist and Thyce is a laboratory technician.
Tara gave birth to their son, Eddie, in September 2024, and a few months later, Tabitha had a daughter, Noelle. Geving had a daughter, Sienna, after the 2018 Games.
“That’s the cool thing about the sport of curling. Your average Joe is playing against Olympians, and we’re friends,” Tara Peterson told CBS News Minnesota before the Olympics. “And after the game we’ll sit and have dinner. We’ll have beers. It’s just normal life.”
Tabitha Peterson told CBS News Minnesota that she sees the Olympics as “just another tournament.”
“It’s another competition. “And try not to focus on thoughts like, ‘Oh my God, we’re at the Olympics,'” she said.
They have several matches left in the round-robin before the semi-finals next Friday. After Friday’s match, the team is ahead 2-1 with a win against Korea and a loss against Sweden
