From: National Post

Posted: April 07, 2008, 11:00 AM by Joe O'Connor

She is the other Jones in Canadian women’s curling, and she is not related to the former Team Canada skip — and CBC weatherperson — Colleen Jones, although Jennifer Jones gets asked if she is all the time.

For the past week, the sharp-shooting skip of the Winnipeg-based rink — comprised of lead Dawn Askin, second Jill Officer and third Cathy Overton-Clapham — has been answering a different set of questions, about what it was like to win the gold medal at the World Women’s Curling Championship in Vernon, B.C.

Jones and her crew clipped China 7-4 in the final, and since their big win, the 34-year-old corporate-lawyer-cum-curler has been welcomed back to Winnipeg by 150 well wishers, who met her flight at the airport, congratulated by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and honoured by a video tribute before a Manitoba Moose hockey game.

Jones took a break from taking her bows to talk to the National Post about putting her right shoe on before her left, putting up with being a lawyer and putting off buying herself a present for being part of the best women’s curling rink in the world.        

NP Are you a Jennifer, a Jen, a Jenny or some nickname we do not know about?
JJ I am a Jennifer or a Jen, but most of my friends call me Jen. Jennifer is at work, and my family calls my Jennifer, but never Jenny — and no nicknames that I know of. 

NP Do you ever get asked if you are related to (curler) Colleen Jones?
JJ All the time, all the time, and she does have a sister named Jennifer. But it’s not me.
 
NP Have you had time to buy any I-just-won-a-world-curling-championship presents?
JJ No, but we plan on it. But I haven’t even had time to sleep since we won. The reception we’ve received in Manitoba has been absolutely incredible and far and away more than anything I could have dreamed of. But sure, we’ll buy something.

NP Like a new car?
JJ No. Like a ring or something, even though we don’t need anything at all. The best part of winning is that I can close my eyes right now and remember the feeling, and I think I’ll remember that forever.

NP You are a corporate lawyer. Corporate law and curling, it seems a curious match. Does your day job come in handy at a tournament?
JJ I don’t know if it is that my work has helped curling or my curling has helped my work. But the biggest thing is dealing with stress and pressure. I just never get nervous, and I think I deal with pressure and stress very well because I think it is ingrained in my work-life. Curling is like my sanctuary, even in the biggest situations, curling is my time away from the stress of everyday life. And even when I am throwing a last shot to win, to me, that’s not stressful. That’s an opportunity. That’s exciting.

NP So, curling is your happy place?
JJ It is my happy place. It is my place where my phone can’t ring, and nobody can come and ask me to do something. It is my time. And that is what is really special to me about curling, I go out there and the world seems to stop for a few hours.

NP I have dropped in on some Internet chat rooms, and there are a few message boards out there that talk about sexy curlers, and you are considered to be one of them.
JJ Lucky me [laughs].

NP Are there any Canadian male curlers who you would say have some sex appeal?
JJ I don’t know [laughs]. I’ve never thought about that, they are all such good friends of ours, and there are definitely some out there that have some appeal. But I can’t answer that question.

NP Athletes are famous for being superstitious. Are you?
JJ Way less than I used to be.

NP How did you used to be?
JJ It was ridiculous, I used to get dressed the same way, and wash my hair, and it was ridiculous. But right now I just put my socks on in the right order, and my shoes on in the right order.

NP And what’s the right order?
JJ I do the right foot first and then the left, and when we walk out as a team, Cathy Overton-Clapham and I will usually talk right before we get out on the ice. And then I wear a necklace that my Grandma gave me, and that is probably my biggest superstition.

NP What’s the necklace?
JJ It is a flower. She gave it to me a long time ago, and it has always been special.

(Photo: REUTERS/Andy Clark)