3 Questions With Jennifer Botterill, Retired National Women’s Hockey Olympic Gold Medalist, and CBC Host, @JenBotterill
We’re all about strong and empowered women at BDB, which is why I loved having the chance to chat with Jennifer Botterill, an Ottawa-born Harvard Graduate and 3-time Team Canada Olympic Gold Medalist, about what she hopes to see in this year’s Olympic Games! Not only was she encouraging and supportive of this year’s Women’s Hockey Team, but she spoke with pride about some of Canada’s other notable Olympic Competitors, including past Sports Babe Of The Day veterans, Mark McMorris and Alex Bilodeau.
As a CBC Host, she does a great job of being unbiased in her reporting, however we had to ask her what would make her the happiest during the Sochi 2014 Games! Her predictions for who would medal in the games were on-point, and we can’t wait to see if her wish for her “ideal Gold” comes into fruition!
3 Questions With Jennifer Botterill
1. If you were coaching in the 2018 games, and you could have any of the players now, on your starting lineup, who would you draft?
Well it’s fun, because there is a nice mix right now on the team of veteran players, and some very strong younger players. So, if you went through the lineup, the ones that I’d probably pick for starting lineup would probably be Geneviève Lacasse, who is one of the young Goaltenders but is playing very well. On Defense, it would probably be Courtney Birchard, who just missed making this Olympic team, but she’s a very strong player and will probably be there in the future. Then Catherine Ward, who has actually become quite a leader on the women’s team. She’s been to one Olympics before, but I think she has the capacity to be an impact player for a long time. So that’s on D, and then on Forward, it probably would be Marie-Philip Poulin who is a very talented player, I had the chance to play with in Vancouver. Then Mélodie Daoust who is a rookie this year at the Olympics, but again, has a lot of skill. I think she’ll be a strong part of that team. then Brianne Jenner. This is her first Olympic year, and she’s doing really, really well. One other that I’d probably mention too, is Natalie Spooner. She’s again a really strong, athletic girl, that has worked hard, and is playing really well. So it’s looking into the future, but again the talent pool is so deep within Canada, that there’s lots of exciting players that will be there in the future.
2. I know we’re not allowed to bet or gamble on the Olympics, but “off the record” if you would be placing a bet on the athlete that you think is going to place Gold first, who do you think it will be?
Hmmm well early on in the Olympics, there are some very exciting performances. I mean Mark McMorris has a great chance to win a Gold medal early on, so that’s pretty exciting for all Canadains. I think they have loved following his story. The other one is Alex Bilodeau and Mikael Kingsbury – they compete again early in the games, and they have the potential to be the 1-2. It’s hard to tell, I mean Kingsbury is a younger athlete that ya know, if I had to guess, I would probably pick his chances, but at the same time, Bilodeau has the experience, and is absolutely an outstanding athlete… so those two are another story to watch. So that’s early on, those are probably some very strong candidates, but as the Olympics progress, there are a lot of athletes that have the capacity to bring home some nice Gold for Canada.
3. I know you may be a little bit biased, but with the addition of 6 disciplines, and 12 new medals we can win, what is your ideal Gold that you want to see Canada bring home?
Well I might be a little bit biased, but if I had to pick one event, it would probably be the Men’s and Women’s Hockey Gold. So double Gold in Hockey would be nice; It’s so nice to share with all the athletes, and as I said, it’s been so nice to see the stories on what Canadian athletes have been going through, and I want to see all of the athletes perform well, but with my history in hockey, I think it would be great to see double gold. That happened for us with the hockey teams in Vancouver, and also in ‘02, and so it just creates an amazing energy and atmosphere for the whole country, so that would have to be my pick.
We definitely have our fingers and toes crossed for Gold, because we’re not just babes that dig balls, we dig pucks too. Thanks so much, Jennifer!
Thank you!
