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a stone’s throw from success

In a few days time North-east curler Jackie Lockhart will step on the ice in Vancouver to compete for a remarkable fourth time in the Winter Olympics.

Jackie attributes her success and longevity to three things, her love of her sport, the support of her family and the backing she has received from her employers Shell.

She was Scottish Junior Champion in 1982 and got silver at the European Juniors in the same year. She has been Scottish Champion seven times, played in the European Championships five times winning a silver medal in 2007 and in 2006 took gold at the European Mixed Curling Championship.

Her first Olympics was at Albertville in 1992 when she was skip of the Great Britain team in the demonstration event.

She competed in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano but missed out on selection for Salt Lake City in 2002 when Rhona Martin’s team struck gold. However weeks later Jackie’s team beat the newly crowned Olympians to win the right to represent Scotland at the World Championships and went on to win.

She also has a world silver medal from 1985 and bronze from 2007.

Jackie, a 44-year-old mother of two, says she is as excited about this Olympics as she was about her first.

“As a youngster I asked myself how could people keep going back and back and playing at world level time and time again. I wondered where they got the enthusiasm but it is just the love of your sport. It makes me feel good and play good and I feel confident and comfortable and it just makes me happy.

“Generally what happens in ladies curling is they get married, have children and stop playing and I have been very lucky. It is just with the support of my family and my husband that I have managed to continue to play and I wish more women would do the same but you can only do it if you have additional support in the background.”

She met husband Craig through curling and says he should get a medal when they celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary later this year for putting up with her being away so much.

Children Kirsty, 14, and Scott, 10, have both just started the sport but are involved a wide range of activities and Jackie says: “Dad and the two kids get up to lots of adventures when I am away.”

Jackie said curling has changed significantly since she began in the sport three decades ago.

“We used to call it a hobby and now it is a sporting profession.

“Curling nowadays is very physically demanding. I have been training six days a week – three days in the gym doing weight lifting and three days doing bike, running or cardio-vascular work. The games are two and a half to three hours long and we might play 10 games over three days which it can be really draining mentally as well as physically so if you are fit it makes it a lot easier to manage.”

Unlike many sports, international success does not bring rich financial rewards.

“UK sport pays for me to go abroad and compete and pays for me to travel to Perth and practice so I am not out of pocket but you don’t make money.

My parents funded me initially and when I got married I had to fund it myself but you do have to make a lot of sacrifices. You have to sacrifice summer holidays in order to take your holidays all in the winter.

“I have worked for Shell for nearly 20 years now and they have been fantastic to me. Many, many times when I have been representing my country at European World or Olympic level I have had what they call special leave - additional paid leave to go and represent my country and it has also meant I could still keep my holidays in the summer.

“This year I had to ask them for a secondment to take the seven months off of the curling calendar. That is unpaid and I am being paid through the Olympic Association to be a full time athlete training and preparing for Vancouver. It takes a huge weight off my mind to know that I have a job to go back to after I have done all my work for my country.

“They have been very good.”

So does Jackie harbour thoughts of a fifth Olympics?

“Never say never but the commitment now is growing every day and I work full time and I have two children and I have other things to do, so at the moment I am not looking at 2014.”

Jackie first match is scheduled for February 17.