Former Canadian curling champion, Sandra Schmirler set the gold standard for combining motherhood and curling when she won the gold at the Nagano Olympic Games back in 1998. Winning not only the Olympian big one, the six times women’s champion for Saskatchewan also went gold, breastfeeding her baby all through the rigorous preparations. Sadly Sandra passed away at the young age of 36 years. The Sandra Schmirler Foundation can be found at www.sandraschmirler.org

This February in Turin there was another Canadian curling champion breastfeeding her baby: Glenys Bakker, a 43 year old mother of a two year old and a five month old daughter, who was breastfeeding right up to the time her mother won the bronze medal in women’s curling. When in Halifax for the Olympic qualifying matches, Bakker breastfed her daughter Sara, between ends and carried her on to the podium when her rink won. "For me it’s fitting because she has been there right from the beginning and she’s been a apart of this whole process," Bakker told the CBC. 

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