Karin Elisabet Gustafson (born 2 May 1964) is a retired Swedish curler, world champion and Olympic medalist. She has won four World Championships.
| Elisabet Gustafson | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Karin Elisabet Gustafson |
| Born | Karin Elisabet Johansson 2 May 1964 Umeå, Sweden |
Curling career  | |
| World Championship appearances | 8 (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000) |
| European Championship appearances | 6 (1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000) |
| Olympic appearances | 2 (1998, 2002) |
Medal record | |
Career
editGustafson made her debut onto the world stage at the 1985 European Junior Curling Championships, where she finished in fourth place. She then skipped one of the most dominant teams of the 1990s, winning four World Curling Championships and four European Curling Championships in the span of eight years. As of 2017 her four World Curling Championships is still an all time record, and each was won with the same team.
Her most dramatic victory was at the 1995 World Curling Championships in Brandon where facing hometown favorite Connie Laliberte of Canada, she overcame a 6-4 deficit without hammer to win, stealing 3 consecutive ends including the extra end.
She received a bronze medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.[1][2] There she had come in co-favored for the gold along with Sandra Schmirler and finished tied with Schmirler atop round robin at 6-1 (Schmirler taking 1st place and the hammer in the playoffs due to winning the round robin meeting of the two teams), but lost in the semis in a significant upset to the team of Helena Blach Lavrsen of Denmark. She gained revenge on this same team a month later, defeating them in the finals of the 1998 World Curling Championships for her 3rd World title
She retired from the sport after finishing a disappointing sixth place at the 2002 Winter Games. Here as in 1998, she was one of the heavy favorites for a possible gold medal, but barely made the playoffs after finishing in a four way tie for 4th at 5-4, then lost in a tiebreaker game to the eventual gold medalists Rhona Martin of Scotland.
In 1993 she was inducted into the Swedish Curling Hall of Fame. In 2012 Gustafson was inducted into the WCF Hall of Fame[3] and in 2020 she was inducted again with her team.[4]
Personal life
editGustafson is a medical doctor and trained as a surgeon. She is married to Tomas Gustafson, an Olympic World Champion speed skater.
At the time of the 1999 World Championships, Gustafson was living in Örebro.[5]
References
edit- ^ "1998 Winter Olympics – Nagano, Japan – Curling" Archived 2007-08-25 at the Wayback Machine – databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on March 19, 2008)
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Elisabet Gustafson". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2016-12-04.
Full name: Karin Elisabet Gustafson (Johansson-)
- ^ "World Curling Federation Annual General Assembly April 2012". World Curling Federation. 6 April 2012. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
- ^ "Canadian and Swedes to be inducted into World Curling Hall of Fame". World Curling Federation. 2020-02-25. Archived from the original on 2020-02-25. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
- ^ "Swedish women take world title". Niagara Falls Review. April 12, 1999. p. 13. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
External links
edit- Elisabet Gustafson at World Curling
- Elisabet Gustafson at Olympics.com
- Elisabet Gustafson at Olympedia
- Elisabet Gustafson at the Swedish Olympic Committee (in Swedish)
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