Dec 3 : Nearly three decades ago, Helen Williams was part of a team led by future curling great Rhona Martin which was hoping to represent Britain at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
However, she injured her ankle the year before and missed those Games – a twist of fate which would set her down a different path and send her halfway around the world.
The Scot moved to Australia for what was meant to be just one year, but she never returned, settling in Perth and building a new life Down Under.
Now, 28 years later, her Olympic dreams are once again within reach, but this time she will be decked in green and gold when she leads Australia’s women’s team at the final qualifier for the Milano Cortina Games.
It has been a long journey for the 52-year-old, but she harbours no regrets.
“I was very young then. I was working hard as a doctor, doing as much curling as I could in between responsibilities and then unfortunately got injured. It was obviously tricky at the time,” Williams told Reuters by video call.
“Looking back now, injuries are just a part of playing sport. If I hadn’t had that injury I would never have moved to Australia. I was introduced to the curling community here, I was fortunate enough to get good jobs here.
“So, you know, you just go where the journey takes you and I’m really very fortunate to have had the opportunity to represent Australia internationally.”
WORKING, TEACHING, CURLING
Williams, who took a 12-year break from the sport while having her children before returning in 2016, works as a paediatrician at Perth Children’s Hospital and also teaches medicine at the University of Western Australia.
Asked how she balances the demands of being an Olympic-level athlete with her two day jobs, she replied: “I really need to have generous colleagues and employers who support what I’m doing.
“At the university, they have leave for representing Australia in international sporting events. They’re very generous in supporting athletes, though I think they’re more used to it being the students rather than their academic staff!
“They’ve also been incredibly supportive at Perth Children’s Hospital. I tend to bank my commitments early in the year before we get into major events, and my colleagues look after my patients beautifully while I’m away.”
UNDERDOGS
Williams’s team will face stiff competition for the final two Olympic berths on offer in the December 5-18 qualifier in Kelowna, Canada , but they have drawn comfort from what is perhaps Australia’s most famous underdog story.
“There are lots of wonderful Australian stories of underdogs, like Steven Bradbury,” said Williams, referencing the 2002 Olympic champion who won short-track speed skating gold after all his competitors crashed out in a pile-up.
“So yes, we are the underdogs in this competition and we’re seeded eighth of the teams, but for us that’s great… We’ll give it our all in every game, but the pressure on the other team is not on us.”
The women’s team is part of a group of Australian curlers that have been making their mark on the sport, with the mixed doubles pairing of Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt at the forefront of the movement.
Gill and Hewitt, who became the first Australians to compete in curling at the Olympics during the Beijing Games, sit atop the mixed doubles rankings and will also be vying for an Olympic ticket at the qualification event.
“Dean and Tahli have really led the way for Australian curling and them being part of the Winter Olympics four years ago was just phenomenal for the sport in Australia,” Williams said.
“Australia is a sporting nation, there’s the Ashes series and everyone’s cricket mad at the moment, but definitely having a different sport like curling also makes people really interested.
“We’re hoping to really work on the back of that interest following Milano Cortina in February, I’m sure there’ll be a surge of interest in curling.”
