Janice "Jan" Betker (born July 19, 1960, in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

) 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. Betker is best known for playing third on the

Sandra Schmirler Sandra Marie Schmirler (June 11, 1963 – March 2, 2000) was a Canadian curling, curler who captured three Canadian Curling Championships (Scott Paper Company, Scott Tournament of Hearts) and three World Women's Curling Championship, World Cu ...

rink that won three world championships and an Olympic gold medal in the 1990s. Following Schmirler's death from cancer in 2000, Betker replaced her as the team's skip. In 2019, Betker was named the greatest Canadian female

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers.

Curling career

As part of the Schmirler team Betker won 3 Canadian

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

championships in 1993, 1994, and 1997. As well the team also won 3 world championships in 1993, 1994, and 1997. In 1998 the team won the

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

for curling at the

Nagano Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...

. Betker also won a

Canadian Mixed Curling Championship The Canadian Mixed Curling Championship is the national curling championship for mixed curling in Canada. The winners of the tournament represent Canada at the World Mixed Curling Championship. In mixed curling, the positions on a team must alte ...

in 1984 as the lead for

Randy Woytowich Randy Woytowich (born July 22, 1954) is a Canadian curler from Saskatchewan. He is a former Canadian mixed champion and two-time provincial men's champion. As a junior curler, Woytowich and teammates Rick Woytowich, Ben Dies and John Kuffn ...

. At first Betker refused to skip the team following the death of her longtime skip Schmirler. However, in 2003 Betker took over as skip and took her team to the

2003 Scott Tournament of Hearts The 2003 Scott Tournament of Hearts was held at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener, Ontario from February 15 to 23. The Colleen Jones rink returned as Team Canada, going on to win their third straight Hearts, then representing Canad ...

. The team finished fourth overall. In 2005, at the Canada Cup of Curling, Betker and her team placed second. However this showing was still enough to win them a spot at the 2005 Canadian Olympic Trials in Halifax as the winner of the event,

Shannon Kleibrink Shannon Kleibrink (born October 7, 1968 in Norquay, Saskatchewan) is a retired Canadian curler from Okotoks, Alberta. She and her team of third Amy Nixon, second Glenys Bakker, lead Christine Keshen and alternate Sandra Jenkins represented ...

already had won an Olympic Trial berth. Betker finished 4-5 at the event with Kleibrink the eventual winner. Betker returned to the national championships in 2007.

Joan McCusker Joan McCusker (born Joan Elizabeth Inglis; June 8, 1965) is a Canadian Olympic gold medallist curler and broadcaster. Career McCusker's greatest successes in curling came during the years she played second on the team of Sandra Schmirler (ski ...

, who had played second for both Schmirler and Betker retired from competitive curling and was replaced by her sister, Nancy Inglis. Sherry Linton, former third, joined Jolene McIvor's rink for the 2006-2007 season and was replaced by newcomer, Lana Vey. Betker's team made it all the way to the final before losing to

Kelly Scott Kelly Scott (born June 1, 1977 in Winnipeg, Manitoba as Kelly Lynn Mackenzie) is a Canadian curler from Kelowna, British Columbia. Career 1995–2005 Scott won the 1995 Canadian Junior Curling Championships and the 1995 World Junior Curling ...

. After the season, Betker announced she was "taking a break" from curling. She returned for three

World Curling Tour The World Curling Tour (WCT) is a group of curling bonspiels featuring the best male, female, and Doubles curling, mixed doubles curlers in the world. History The World Curling Tour was founded by former World Champion Ed Lukowich, with later ass ...

events in 2008-09 and one in 2011-12, but has not curled competitively since. In 2017, Betker stopped curling entirely.

Personal life

She is an administrator with Laurie Artiss The Pin People.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Betker, Jan 1960 births Living people Canadian women curlers Olympic curlers for Canada Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in curling Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Canadian people of German descent Curlers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Curlers from Regina, Saskatchewan World curling champions Canadian women's curling champions Canadian mixed curling champions Canada Cup (curling) participants 20th-century Canadian sportswomen