ROCK AND A HARD PLACE: As the Beijing Olympics get underway, curling’s elite in Canada are faced with an impossible question.

ROCK AND A HARD PLACE: As the Beijing Olympics get underway, curling’s elite in Canada are faced with an impossible question: Is it worth risking the image of the nation in the sport to compete for medals? Jennifer Jones was has been yelling “Wooooo!” for a good while, and she has her second, Jocelyn Peterman, in a bear hug. When the skip’s arms open, her third, Kaitlyn Lawes, jumps in. Jones is only pausing from the wooing for breaths and exuberant words. Next, she embraces her coach and two leads, Dawn McEwen and Lisa Weagle. Finally, the renowned Winnipeg skip crumples to the blue rinkside floor at the Sasktel Centre and covers her face with her hands. For the time being, the wooing continues. Her team has qualified for the 2022 Olympics.

And you better believe that from the comfort of her home in Stockholm, about 6,000 kilometres east of where it all happened, reigning Olympic champion Anna Hasselborg was watching all the action that led to this moment. Hasselborg and the rest of Team Sweden — third Sara McManus, second Agnes Knochenhauer, lead Sofia Mabergs and alternate Johanna Heldin — were, in fact, glued to Canada’s Olympic Curling Trials, which Team Jones won in November in Saskatoon. “We have a pool and we bet — it’s very serious,” Hasselborg says. “We bet on every draw, the top three, and the overall winner.” That’s 21 bets in all, for anyone counting.

Sadly for Hasselborg, she didn’t win a single krona, and instead had to dish out, though not to who you might expect. Team Sweden’s coach, Wayne Middaugh, a three-time Canadian and world champion, didn’t correctly pick the winners, even with his homegrown knowledge. It was the alternate, Heldin, who won the pool and collected the pot of money. Heldin not only correctly chose Jones, but she also picked the winning men’s team, Brad Gushue’s foursome from Newfoundland. “Johanna nailed both — that’s very impressive,” Hasselborg says. “All six of us had different picks, different winning combinations. That says a lot about the field. And that’s why we bet on the Canadian Trials, because it’s so much fun and all the teams are so equal. They’re the best in the world, and we do everything we can to keep up all the time with Canada. And to learn.”

Reigning Olympic champion Anna Hasselborg, along with the other members of Team Sweden (third Sara McManus, second Agnes Knochenhauer, lead Sofia Mabergs, and alternate Johanna Heldin), were glued to Canada’s Olympic Curling Trials, which Team Jones won in November in Saskatoon. “We have a pool and we bet — it’s very serious,” Hasselborg says. “We bet on every draw, the top three, and the overall winner.” That’s twenty-one bets altogether, for those who are keeping track. Regrettably, Hasselborg didn’t win a single krona and was forced to dish out, but she didn’t know to whom.