Sandra Schmirler

Sandra Marie Schmirler, SOM ( born June 11, 1963 in Biggar, Saskatchewan; † 2 March 2000 Regina ) was a Canadian curler. She was Olympic champion and three times World Champion. Until her divorce, she was called Sandra Peterson and then took back to their birth name.

Schmirler learned the game of curling at the high school. Her first major success was winning the 1991 championship province of Saskatchewan, in the position of the skip. In 1993 she won with her team based in Regina the Canadian national championship and qualified for the World Cup in Geneva, where she won the gold medal. She repeated in 1994 in Oberstdorf and 1997 in Bern this success.

Their greatest success was winning the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. In the semifinals, her team had prevailed only after extra time against Scotland, defeating in the final the surprising Danes Skip to Helena Blach Lavrsen 7:5.

A year after her Olympic victory was diagnosed with breast cancer Schmirler and she died a few months later. At her funeral over 15,000 mourners attended. She was posthumously awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, the Order of Merit of the province.