Colleen Patricia Jones (born December 16, 1959) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

curler and

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. She is best known as the skip of two women's world championship teams and six Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's championships, including an unprecedented four titles in a row and held the record for most Tournament of Hearts wins from when she won her 67th game in 1994 until her eventual 152 wins were eclipsed by

Jennifer Jones Jennifer Jones (born Phylis Lee Isley; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as Jennifer Jones Simon, was an American actress and mental-health advocate. Over the course of her career that spanned more than five decades, she was nomin ...

in 2021. Jones also serves as a reporter and weather presenter for the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

, and as a curling commentator for

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in the

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, particularly during the 2010

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. In 2018, Jones finished second to

Sidney Crosby Sidney Patrick Crosby (born August 7, 1987) is a Canadian professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), centre and Captain (ice hockey), captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "Sid the Kid" and dubb ...

in a listing of the greatest 15 athletes in Nova Scotia's history. In 2019, she was named the third greatest Canadian curler in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers. In 2016, Jones was awarded the

Order of Sport The Order of Sport is a national level award established in 2019 by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. It is awarded alongside induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, and regarded as Canada's highest sporting honour. Overview Canada’s Sp ...

, marking her induction into

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada, it serves as a hall of fame and mu ...

. She currently coaches the Owen Purcell rink.

Early career

Born in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, Canada, from a family of curlers, at age 14, she joined the

Mayflower Curling Club The Mayflower Curling Club is a curling club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was established in 1905. Since 1962, the club has been located at 3000 Monaghan Drive. The club is one of the premier curling rinks in Nova Scotia, being home to teams heade ...

. She found success in competitive curling from an early age, playing skip for the St. Patrick's High School curling team. She was only 19 years old when she won the first of her 16 Nova Scotia curling titles. That led to competing in the Canadian championships, where she finished second. In 1982 she became the youngest skip, at age 22, ever to win the Canadian women's curling championship but career, marriage and a family slowed down her competitive curling. She joined

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

as a reporter in 1986 and went on to cover numerous summer and winter

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Broadcasting career

Jones began her broadcasting career in radio sports at CHUM radio in 1982. She made the switch to television broadcasting in 1984 at CTV, and joined the CBC in 1986. Beginning in 1993, Jones has been the weather presenter and sports reporter for '' CBC Morning News'' on CBC Newsworld (now

CBC News Network CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It is Canada's first all-news channel, and the world's third-oldest television service of this ...

). At the 2006 Torino Olympics, she did CBC segments about curling. Jones provided curling commentary for

's coverage of the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. She served as the sideline reporter for the curling events at the 2014, 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics. Jones starred in a

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about the

Canada 2006 Census The 2006 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 16, 2006. The following census was the 2011 census. Canada's total population enumerated by the 2006 census was 31,612,897. This count was lower ...

. Jones appeared in the January 15, 2008 episode of '' This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' for a skit titled MVC ''Most Valuable Curler''. She also co-hosts the online series ''That Curling Show'' with CBC journalist Devin Heroux. On 6 April 2023, it was announced that she would be retiring from CBC after almost 40 years with the broadcaster.

Curling career

1999–2006

In 1999, with her new team of

Kim Kelly Kim Kelly (born April 4, 1962, in Halifax, Nova Scotia as Kim Ackles) is a Canadian curler from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She currently throws skip stones for Colleen Jones, whom she has won five national championships and two world championsh ...

, Mary Anne Waye (later Arsenault) and

Nancy Delahunt Nancy Dale Delahunt (born January 5, 1959) is a Canadian curler from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Delahunt currently plays third for Colleen Jones. Career Delahunt was born in Montreal, Quebec. She was a member of the Colleen Jones team which won fiv ...

, Jones won the Canadian curling title for the second time. The team repeated this in 2001 and they went on to win the World Curling Championship in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

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. They followed this up with another Canadian championship in 2002 and then won it for a record-setting fifth time at the

2004 Scott Tournament of Hearts The 2004 Scott Tournament of Hearts was held at the ENMAX Centrium in Red Deer, Alberta from February 21 to 29 2004. The Colleen Jones rink returned as Team Canada, going on to win their fourth straight Hearts, then representing Canada at the ...

. This made Jones the first skip to win four straight Canadian titles. From there the team went on to win their second World Curling Championship. Their return at the 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts was not as stellar. The team finished the round-robin at 6–5 and lost in a tie-breaker to Sandy Comeau of

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

. When this happened, the team got a standing ovation, which even halted play in the other game that was occurring two sheets over. The following year, the team was back in form, but bowed out in the semi-finals to

. At the end of the 2006 season, the team broke up. Jones joined the team of fellow Haligonian Kay Zinck, as her third. The rest of the team got a new skip in Laine Peters.

2006–2008

After a short run playing third for Kay Zinck during the 2006/2007 season, Jones went back to skipping. For the 2007/2008 season she would add Olympic bronze medallist Georgina Wheatcroft to her team along with Kate Hamer and Darah Provencal. At the end of the season Jones would retire from competitive curling.

2010–2011

Colleen Jones announced on March 24, 2010, on

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

that she would be again returning to competitive curling. Having been present for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, a spark ignited in her, and she once again wanted to make another run for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. For the 2010/2011 season, Jones was recruited by Heather Smith-Dacey, Blisse Comstock and Teri Lake, to take over skipping duties, when former skip

Jill Mouzar Jillian Brothers (born May 20, 1983 as Jill Mouzar ronounced "MOW-zer" is a Canadian curler. She currently plays third on Team Christina Black. Brothers was born in Liverpool, Nova Scotia and now resides in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Career Brot ...

moved to Ontario. Just as Jones was due to begin her competitive curling comeback, days before beginning the playdowns for the Nova Scotia Scotties Tournament of Hearts, It was announced on December 10, 2010, that Jones was diagnosed with

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

. Jones turned over skipping duties to Heather Smith-Dacey, and brought in Danielle Parsons to play at third. Smith-Dacey's team won the Nova Scotia title, and then went on to win the bronze medal at the 2011 Scotties. Jones was able to return to competition after recovering from her illness, and won the 2011 Nova Scotia Senior Women's Championship on February 27.

2011–present

For the 2011–2012, Jones recruited a new squad, originally consisting of Kristen MacDiarmid, Helen Radford and Mary Sue Radford, all of whom previous played with Theresa Breen. Later in the season, she modified her team adding former teammate

to third, and Marsha Sobey to second. Mary Sue Radford remained at lead. Delahunt and Sobey were members of Jones' Senior women's champion team. After failing to qualify for the provincial 2012 Nova Scotia Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Jones and her senior team of Delahunt, Sobey and Sally Saunders, participated in the 2012 Nova Scotia Women's Senior Championships. They made it to the final, where they defeated Colleen Pinkney, 6–4, to win back-to-back seniors championships, qualifying for the National senior finals. With Delahunt skipping, and Jones throwing last stones, the team represented Nova Scotia at the 2012 Canadian Senior Curling Championships, where they lost in the semi-final to Newfoundland and Labrador's Cathy Cunningham. For the 2012–2013 season Jones reunited with

Mary-Anne Arsenault Mary-Anne Arsenault (born August 19, 1968 in Scarborough, Ontario, also known as Mary-Anne Waye when she was married) is a Canadian curler from Lake Country, British Columbia. She is a five-time Canadian Champion, and two-time World Curling C ...

and

, with the goal of reaching the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

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. Jones threw second stones on the team, while acting as the rink's vice skip, or "mate" while Arsenault skips. The Arsenault-skipped team won the 2013 Nova Scotia Scotties Tournament of Hearts, and qualified for the 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

. They finished the event with a 5–6 record.curling.ca, coverage of 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Jones has appeared in 4

Canadian Senior Curling Championships The Canadian Senior Curling Championships are an annual bonspiel held to determine the national champions in senior curling for Canada. Seniors are defined as being people over the age of 50. The championship teams play at the World Senior Curlin ...

(2011, 2012, 2015, and 2016). She finished with a bronze medal at the 2012 Championships, and a silver medal at the 2015 Championships. She won her first Canadian Seniors in 2016 and represented Canada at the 2017 World Senior Curling Championships in

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, Alberta where her rink went through the event undefeated to win the world title.

Career highlights

Colleen Jones is a member of the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame and the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame. * World Curling Champion: 2001, 2004 * Canadian Curling Champion: 1982, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 * Canadian Mixed Curling Champion: 1993, 1999 * World Senior Curling Champion: 2017 * Canadian Senior Curling Champion: 2016 She was appointed to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 2022.

Personal life

Jones is married to Scott Saunders and has two sons. One of her sons, Luke Saunders is also a curler who currently plays third on the Owen Purcell rink.

Grand Slam record

Former events

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Colleen 1959 births Living people Canadian women curlers Canadian women's curling champions Canadian mixed curling champions Canadian people of Welsh descent Canadian television weather presenters Canadian television sportscasters CBC Television people Curling broadcasters Dalhousie University alumni World curling champions Women sports commentators Continental Cup of Curling participants 20th-century Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian journalists Canada Cup (curling) participants Curlers from Halifax, Nova Scotia Canadian women television personalities 20th-century Canadian women journalists Members of the Order of Canada Canadian curling coaches Sportswomen from Nova Scotia 20th-century Canadian sportswomen 21st-century Canadian women journalists 21st-century Canadian sportswomen