Pete Fenson

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Olympic medalist
Image:Petefenson.jpg
Pete Fenson
Medal record
Men's Curling
Bronze 2006 Turin Curling

Peter Fenson (born February 29, 1968 in Bemidji, Minnesota) is an American curler, skip of the men's rink which represented the United States at the 2006 Winter Olympics. The rink took the bronze medal, the first ever Olympic medal for the United States in curling.

Fenson took up curling at age 13; his father, Bob Fenson, won the 1979 national championships and is now the coach of Pete's rink. Pete Fenson was a third on the national champion rinks in 1993 and 1994, and his rink, skipped by Scott Baird, made it to the semifinals of the 1993 World Curling Championship and placed fifth in 1994.

Fenson was the skip of the rink which won the 2003 U.S. national championship, and went on to take eighth place at the 2003 Ford World Curling Championship. After finishing as runner-up in the 2004 U.S. championships, Fenson's rink won the 2005 national championship. At the 2005 World Championship, Fenson's rink finished the preliminary round in a six-way tie for first place, but was eliminated from competition in a tie-breaker against defending Olympic champion Norway. Still, Fenson's sixth-place finish earned his rink the right to represent the U.S. at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

At the Olympics, Fenson's rink had a 6-3 record in the round robin portion of the tournament, losing only to Italy and eventual finalists Finland and Canada. This put the rink in a three-way tie for second place with Canada and Great Britain; Fenson's rink faced Brad Gushue's Canadian rink in the semifinal, losing 11-5 in nine ends. Two days later, however, the rink rebounded to defeat David Murdoch's Great Britain rink in the bronze medal game 8-6, securing the first ever American Olympic medal in curling. On January 16, 2007, the team was named the 2006 USOC Team of the Year.[1]

Fenson's current teammates are Shawn Rojeski (third), Joe Polo (second), Doug Pottinger (lead), and Scott Baird (alternate). The team's lead for the past four years (including the 2006 Olympics), John Shuster, decided in summer 2006 to depart from the team to pursue other options.

Fenson is also the owner of a two-restaurant chain, Dave's Pizza, which operates in Bemidji and Brainerd, Minnesota.

[edit] References

  1. ^ USOC honors top U.S. athletes for 2006, http://www.usolympicteam.com/117_50738.htm

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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