FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 16, 2005

Wauwatosa’s Dunlop headed to Olympic Trials for Curling

(STEVENS POINT, Wis.) – Wauwatosa’s John Dunlop is busy preparing to try to make the Olympic curling team.

Dunlop, a member of the Craig Brown rink based out of Madison, will compete at the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Curling beginning Saturday at the Madison Curling Club in McFarland, Wis. The Brown rink qualified for the Olympic Trials after finishing 4-0 at the Men’s Qualifying Round in St. Paul, Minn., last month.

Dunlop and his teammates will be among nine other men’s teams and 10 women’s teams vying to become the Olympic Curling Team for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy. The Trials continue through Feb. 26.

Dunlop, 29, won the 2000 national title along with Brown and advanced to the semifinals of the World Championships that year. The team has been playing well this season on the cashspiel circuit, with its highest finish being second place at the St. Paul Cashspiel in November.

A native of Milwaukee, Dunlop is a fifth-generation curler and first went to the curling club at age 3 while his mother played in a ladies league.

The 2006 U.S. Olympic Team Trials also will serve as the World Trials to choose the USA’s entrants at the 2005 Ford World Curling Championships. Ten men’s and 10 women’s team will take part in a round robin. The top four teams will advance to the semifinals on Feb. 25. The Page Playoff System will be used to determine the finalists. The No. 1 ranked team will play the No. 2 ranked team. The winner advances to the final while the loser advances to play the winner of the No. 3 vs. No. 4 ranked teams to determine the second finalist. The men’s and women’s finals will take place Feb. 26.

Highlights from the 2006 U.S. Olympic Trials will be aired on the College Sports Television Network at a date to be announced soon.

Curling became a full-medal sport at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. The 2006 Olympic Games will take place Feb. 10-26, 2006. The 2010 Olympics will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia.

USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics and AmerAust Technologies as well as by General Motors, Chevron-Texaco and Bank of America through a joint marketing program with the U.S. Olympic Committee.

(30)

For more information: Rick Patzke, USA Curling, rickp@curlingrocks.net, 715-344-1199