Jennifer Jones and her team may have only arrived in Sochi, Russia, Tuesday, but you can feel the Olympic spirit when she speaks and see it in the number of photos she and her team are taking and sharing through their @TeamJJonesCurl and individual Twitter accounts.
“All of a sudden you get to the village and you see other Canadian athletes walking around. You just feel like it’s your family and instantaneously,” Jones told members of the media Thursday. “It’s different than being alone at a world championship when you’re just the sole team there representing Canada. Here we’re part of a family – we’re cheering everybody on. It’s a dream come true, over and over again.”
That dream is shared by all of the Jones team but perhaps most for second Jill Officer.
With the exception of only a few years, Jones and Officer have been teammates for close to 20 years.
“She’s done a lot for me as a curler. She’s been a great leader and she’s motivated me to be a better athlete and 20 years is a long time. I can’t imagine being at an Olympic Games without her,” Officer said.
The Jones team begins their quest for gold Monday and will face former world champion Wang Bingyu of China in their opening game.
“You have so many world champions, European champions. It’s going to be tough from start to finish,” said Jones. “Honestly, every single team out there could be standing on the podium.”
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