James P. Armstrong (born June 30, 1950) is a former

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 wheelchair curler now living in Ontario. He was a successful able-bodied curler for much of his career until he had to stop playing because of bad knees and a car accident in 2003.

Career

Curling career

Born in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

, Armstrong began curling at eight, and by the age of 22 he made his first Brier, playing second for British Columbia, skipped by Jack Tucker. The team finished 5–5 at that 1973 MacDonald Brier. Armstrong skipped B.C. in the following Brier, placing third with a 6–4 record. Armstrong wouldn't make another Brier for 9 years, when he played third for

Bernie Sparkes Bernard Leslie Sparkes (born October 15, 1940) is a former world champion curler. Sparkes's first major curling championship success came when he won the 1957 Alberta Schoolboys.1983 Labatt Brier. The team finished third once again, losing to Ontario's

Ed Werenich Edward Werenich (born June 23, 1947) is a Canadian curler from Holland Landing, Ontario. Nicknamed "The Wrench," Werenich has been known to be a colourful and outspoken character. Outside of curling, Werenich worked as a firefighter. Career Wer ...

in the semi-final. The team made the

1984 Labatt Brier The 1984 Labatt Brier was held from March 4 to 11 at the Victoria Memorial Arena in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, British Columbia. Mike Riley (curler), Mike Riley of Manitoba defeated Ed Werenich of Ontario to win his first and only Bri ...

in Victoria, but only finished 6–5. They made it back to the Brier in 1987, where they lost in the final to Ontario's

Russ Howard Russell W. "Russ" Howard, CM, ONL (born February 19, 1956, in Midland, Ontario) is a Canadian curler and Olympic champion, based in Regina, Saskatchewan, but originally from Midland, Ontario. He lived in Moncton, New Brunswick, from 2000 t ...

. Armstrong played in his last Brier in 1992. Armstrong skipped the B.C. team to a 5–6 finish. In 1990, he was inducted into the

Canadian Curling Hall of Fame The Canadian Curling Hall of Fame was established with its first inductees in 1973. It is operated by Curling Canada, the governing body for curling in Canada, in Orleans, Ontario. The Hall of Fame selection committee meets annually to choose indu ...

. Armstrong won the Ross Hartstone Award at the 1983, 1987 and 1992 Briers for being the most sportsmanlike player as voted by the other athletes.

Wheelchair curling

In 2007 he was invited to rejoin the sport as an advisor to Team Canada's wheelchair curling program by Gerry Peckham, an ex-teammate and Canadian Curling Association's High Performance Director. He skipped BC to National Championship titles in 2008 and 2009, and in 2009 skipped Canada to their first

World Wheelchair Curling Championship The World Wheelchair Curling Championship is an annual world championship held to determine the world's best team in wheelchair curling. It is held every non-Paralympic year. Medalists Following is a list of medalists: All-time medal table ...

gold medal, a success he repeated at the

2010 Winter Paralympics The 2010 Winter Paralympics (), or the tenth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, from March 12 to 21, 2010. The opening ceremony took place in BC Place Stadium in Vancouver and the Closing ...

, and the 2011

in Prague. Armstrong travelled as skip with Team Canada to Chuncheon, South Korea for the 2012

, but returned to Canada the day before the tournament began after receiving an 18 month ban for failing a doping test. After appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (the "CAS"), Armstrong's ban was reduced to 6 months since "the WCF Panel did not properly exercise its discretion". Armstrong was represented at the CAS by Dr. Emir Crowne and Christina Khoury.

Personal life

He worked as a dentist, until he sold his practice in 2003. He had first decided to take a year off, to get knee surgery on both knees, but after the first knee was replaced, he had a car accident, where his recently repaired knee was slammed into the dashboard, and he had to have more surgeries on the replaced knee, as well as the scheduled surgery on the other knee. Over this period he could not work and had to sell his practice. His wife of 29 years, died in September 2009. She had been diagnosed with cancer in 2005.Sports – Paralympic curling champ’s son headed to U.S. jail

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices are located at Pos ...

, February 13, 2011 Armstrong and his son were arrested in April 2010 for trafficking counterfeit goods after he was accused of smuggling Chinese-made pills labeled

Viagra Sildenafil, sold under the brand name Viagra among others, is a medication used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is also sometimes used off-label for the treatment of certain symptoms in secondary Ray ...

and Cialis into Canada from

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. His son would sell them in nightclubs, and said he had been selling such pills for three years. Armstrong pleaded guilty in October 2010 and had to pay a $30,000 fine as well as perform community service, while his son was "banned" from the University of B.C., and got one year and one day in jail. Armstrong currently lives in

Cambridge, Ontario Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand River (Ontario), Grand and Speed River, Speed rivers, in the central part of the Ontario Peninsula. The city had a population ...

References

External links

Athlete Search Results – Armstrong, Jim

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; ) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nin ...

(IPC)
Profile
at the

Canadian Paralympic Committee The Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC; French: ''Comité paralympique canadien''), also known as Team Canada, is the private, non-profit organization representing Canadian Paralympic athletes in the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and ...

's website *
Profile
at the Official Website for the

in Vancouver {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Jim 1950 births Living people Curlers from Victoria, British Columbia Canadian wheelchair curlers Paralympic wheelchair curlers for Canada Paralympic gold medalists for Canada Wheelchair curlers at the 2010 Winter Paralympics 21st-century Canadian dentists Wheelchair curlers at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Canadian male curlers Curlers from Ontario Sportspeople from Cambridge, Ontario World wheelchair curling champions Paralympic medalists in wheelchair curling Canadian wheelchair curling champions Doping cases in curling 20th-century Canadian sportsmen