Class of 2016: Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame welcomes six athletes and a builder
TORONTO — Colleen Jones has fond memories of the many curling titles she won over her long career. The victories that came after being told she couldn’t repeat her early success have always stuck with her.
“That leap and excitement of winning again, it stays with you. It just is forever in your body,” Jones said Tuesday after receiving her jacket as an honoured member of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. “You can almost call it up whenever you need a lift. You say, ‘Remember that moment you did what people thought you couldn’t do?’”
Jones was only 22 when she won her first national women’s title in 1982. Her competitive curling career slowed in the following years as she focused on her career, marriage and family.
There were naysayers who didn’t think her Nova Scotia rink could win a second championship. Jones recalled people telling her, ‘You’ll never win again,’ but her team persevered to take the 1999 Canadian crown and four straight titles from 2001 to 2004.