Tourism Whistler release

For immediate release - November 7, 2006
 

U.S. Olympians Dan Jansen, Picabo Street set for NBC curling event in Whistler
 

Whistler, B.C. - Olympians Dan Jansen and Picabo Street will take up curling brooms instead of their usual skates and skis when they join USA curling medal winners on the pebbled ice for the Korbel Elite Curling Challenge in Whistler November 18. Jansen and Street will be celebrity members of the Pete Fenson and Debbie McCormick teams in this battle of the sexes to be staged in Whistler and then broadcast on NBC the following weekend.

With Korbel Champagne Cellars as the title sponsor, and hosted by Events Whistler, this joint effort between NBC Sports and USA Curling will be showcased nationally in a two-hour NBC Sports special on Sunday, Nov. 26 from 2-4 p.m. ET (U.S. Thanksgiving weekend). The broadcast will feature full event coverage and will showcase Whistler, the host mountain resort for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

"Whistler is very excited and honoured to be the host for this event," said Barrett Fisher, President of Tourism Whistler, a member organization of Events Whistler. "To have the great sport of curling prominently showcased here for the first time, and to work alongside Korbel and NBC to build this program, is a unique opportunity to showcase Whistler in our lead up to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games."

Jansen, a 1994 Olympic gold medalist in the 1,000 meters in speedskating, will be the fifth player on the team including 2006 Olympic bronze medalists Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.), Shawn Rojeski (Chisholm, Minn.), and Joe Polo (Cass Lake, Minn.), and their new teammate Doug Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.). Jansen, 41, (Greenfield, Wis.) was the first man to break 36 seconds in the 500-meter speedskating race and was a member of four Olympic teams (1984, '88, '92, '94). Jansen competed in three Olympic Winter Games before winning his first medal in his final event at the 1994 Olympic Games, breaking the world record in the process. Jansen started the Dan Jansen Foundation in 1994 to aid youth sports programs, award educational and scholarship awards and well as aid in the research of leukemia, which claimed the life of his sister. He now works as a motivational speaker.

Skipped by two-time Olympian Debbie McCormick (Rio, Wis.), the women's defending national champions will partner with three-time Olympian and 1998 gold medalist Picabo Street (Park City, Utah). McCormick and teammates Nicole Joraanstad (Madison, Wis.), Natalie Nicholson (Bemidji, Minn.) and Tracy Sachtjen (Lodi, Wis.) will take on the Fenson rink in an 8-end game. At stake will be pride, prize money, and a victorious toast with Korbel champagne.

Street, 35, won gold in the Super G at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, a silver medal in downhill in 1994 in Lillehammer, and is a two-time World Cup downhill champion. A crash shortly after the 1998 Olympics kept Street out of action for 33 months, but she still made the 2002 Olympic team. Beyond her skiing heroics, Street may be best known for having the opportunity by her parents to name herself. She went by the name "Little Girl" until age two when she selected Picabo after a love of playing the game peek-a-boo and the Idaho town of Picabo.

The competitors are being hosted by Events Whistler, a major sponsor of the Korbel Elite Curling Challenge and also the host competition and broadcast site. As part of its sponsorship, Events Whistler, a partnership of the Resort Municipality of Whistler, Whistler Blackcomb, and Tourism Whistler, is providing the ice at Meadow Park Sports Centre, the Roundhouse Lodge on Whistler Mountain as the host broadcast studio venue, and overall hosting and coordination support for the event.

The NBC team calling the action from Whistler will be the same one that brought the 2006 Olympics home to U.S. viewers, with commentators Don Chevrier and Don Duguid and sideline reporter Elfi Schlegel.

Team Fenson's success in Torino not only resulted in the first Olympic medal in curling for the USA but also helped once again sweep American viewers off their feet four years after the sport was tabbed with "cult status" in Salt Lake City. During the 2006 Games, curling was featured predominantly on CNBC, which saw its ratings increase 562 percent from pre-Olympic first quarter deliveries.

Korbel Champagne Cellars was established in 1882, just 50 years after the establishment of the first curling club in the United States (the Orchard Lake Curling Club, near Detroit). Korbel has been the exclusive champagne of the past six presidential inaugurations, and is the number one selling premium méthode champenoise-produced champagne in America. Korbel Champagne Cellars was also a supporter and licensee of the 1996 Olympic Games, and an Official Supporter of the 2000, 2002 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Teams and the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Whistler is a year-round leisure and meeting destination located 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and is site of the alpine, nordic, sliding and Paralympic venues for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Whistler has a range of accommodations totalling 3,200 hotel rooms, and more than 5,000 other tourist accommodation units including condos, B&Bs and chalets. Whistler offers a wide selection of restaurants, bars, spas, boutiques, galleries and activities ranging from world-renowned skiing and snowboarding, mountain biking and golf, to hiking, rock climbing, and watersports. Whistler Blackcomb Mountains feature 3,036 hectares (8,171 acres) of terrain and receives an average of 9.14 metres (30 feet) of snow per year. The Resort Municipality of Whistler is home to a diverse community of more than 10,000 permanent residents.

Events Whistler is a collaborative organization funded by the Resort Municipality of Whistler, Whistler Blackcomb, and Tourism Whistler, aimed at generating a wide range of events to Whistler including facilitation of international events in Whistler during the years leading up to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

The Korbel Elite Curling Challenge will be produced for NBC by Carr-Hughes Productions of Greenfield Center, N.Y.
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Whistler publication-ready photographs can be downloaded at http://mediaroom.tourismwhistler.com/

Media contacts:
Tourism Whistler
Michele Comeau Thompson - Director, Communications
Telephone: 604-938-2709
Email:

Darlene Small - Manager, Travel Media Relations
Telephone: 604-938-2794
Email:

Website: www.tourismwhistler.com

USA Curling
Rick Patzke,

Telephone: 715-344-1199

Terry Luder,

Telephone: 715-344-1199