Brad Jacobs told supporters that while his Sochi 2014 medal may look flashier, it was his latest Olympic gold that carried more weight — earned after a far tougher return to the Games at age 40 amid rising international competition
Brad Jacobs first began attending the YNCU Curling Centre on Anita Boulevard at the age of 10.
Thirty years and two gold medals later, he was celebrated in the same building on a street that will soon be named after him.
Jacobs was the guest of honour during a celebration Sunday, hosted by Soo Curlers Association and the City of Sault Ste. Marie to celebrate his recent accomplishment of becoming the first men’s curling skip to attain two Olympic gold medals — his first in Russia in 2014 and his second last winter in Italy.
Jacobs told the crowd of about 120 people that the 2014 Sochi medal is the more visually striking of the two, but the 2026 Milano Cortina one means more to him.
“I think I appreciate it a lot more and I believe the reason why is, curling is so hard nowadays. It’s just so bloody hard with all the young talent, all the countries out there coming up,” said Jacobs of the most recent gold medal.
He said coming back to the Olympics 14 years later at the age of 40 was much more challenging.
“This one from Cortina certainly was well deserved — harder, it was really really tough,” he said.
Jacobs briefly addressed the cheating allegations against his team that briefly gave curling a viral worldwide moment during the Olympics.
His teammate Marc Kennedy faced criticism from the Swedish team for allegedly ‘double-touching’ a stone after release.
“All those people who doubted us, who said negative things about us online, who called us cheaters, who had bad things to say about Canada and our families and all that stuff — I hope the image of us on top of the podium with our gold medals, embracing other one another, is burned into your brains forever,” he said.
Although Sunday’s event was in celebration of Jacobs, he thanked teammates past and present and all those who have supported him over the years.
“I’m nothing without all of the people that have been there along this journey,” he said.
Jacobs noted he was 10 years old when his mother first brought him to the YNCU Curling Centre, formerly named Soo Curlers.
That fateful introduction soon became an obsession for Jacobs.
He said he put his ‘10,000 hours’ of work in as a curler between the ages of 12 and 18, even falling asleep as a teenager to VHS tapes of the sport.
“I must have watched the 1990 Brier round robin and semi-final games more than maybe anybody,” said Jacobs.
That 1990 Labatt Brier was held at the Sault Memorial Gardens, a few minutes drive from the curling club.
Jacobs said the YNCU Curling Centre is among the top five best in the country.
“We’ve travelled the world, we’ve travelled all over Canada, we’ve played countless amounts of curling games all over the place and I’ll tell you — for the last 10 or 15 years, and especially more so now, I brag about our curling club,” he added.
“I brag about our members, I brag about Sault Ste. Marie and our community and the support that everyone’s had for our teams.”
A new street sign for Team Jacobs Way will be put up and dedicated at a later date.
Jacobs admitted when he heard about the street-naming honour, he felt bad for the residents who live in houses along Anita Boulevard.
“I’ve always known this place to be 124 Anita Boulevard. I’ve got the address has burned into my brain. When I heard that there was going to be a renaming of the street, I immediately said, ‘Is everybody on Anita Boulevard okay with that?'” joked Jacobs.
Announced during a recent meeting of city council, only the end of Anita Boulevard is being renamed, with the curling club to be the only address affected by the change.
“For the curling club to to now be number one Team Jacobs Way is a pretty easy one to remember, I think, and I’m really honoured to receive this. That’s amazing,” said Jacobs of the street name change.
A special lunch was held prior to the formal ceremony on Sunday. It was followed by Jacobs signing autographs and taking photos photographs with those in attendance.
Former Team Jacobs coach Tom Coulterman received the Janet Arnott Exceptional Coach Award from Curling Canada during the event.
In his remarks, Mayor Matthew Shoemaker noted all of Team Jacobs’ accolades can be traced directly back to the curling community as a whole.
“Brad’s success is not just his own. It reflects an entire community that believes in the sport, the coaches, the teammates, the volunteers — everybody who puts their time, blood, sweat and energy into this place,” he said.
