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Joe Polo

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Joseph Polo
Curler
Born (1982-12-10) December 10, 1982 (age 42)
Duluth, Minnesota
Team
Curling clubBemidji CC, Bemidji, Minnesota
SkipJoe Polo[1]
ThirdRich Ruohonen
SecondMatt Mellin
LeadDerek Benson
Mixed doubles
partner		Tabitha Peterson
Curling career
Member Association United States
World Championship
appearances		7 (2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2022)
World Mixed Doubles Championship
appearances		2 (2016, 2021)
Olympic
appearances		2 (2006, 2018)
Medal record
Curling
Representing  United States
Winter Olympics
Gold medal – first place 2018 Pyeongchang Team
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Turin Team
World Mixed Doubles Championship
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Karlstad
US Men's Championship
Gold medal – first place 2005 Madison
Gold medal – first place 2006 Bemidji
Gold medal – first place 2010 Kalamazoo
Gold medal – first place 2011 Fargo
Gold medal – first place 2014 Philadelphia
Gold medal – first place 2017 Everett
Gold medal – first place 2021 Wausau
Silver medal – second place 2012 Philadelphia
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Kalamazoo
US Olympic Trials
Gold medal – first place 2005 Madison
Gold medal – first place 2017 Omaha
Silver medal – second place 2013 Fargo
US Mixed Doubles Championship
Gold medal – first place 2020 Eau Claire
Silver medal – second place 2017 Blaine
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Denver

Joseph Polo (born December 10, 1982) is an American curler who is best known for winning a bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics and being the alternate on the gold-medal winning United States men's team at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Polo was raised in Floodwood, Minnesota before moving to Cass Lake. He learned to curl in nearby Bemidji at the age of 10 in the Bemidji Curling Club's Sunday Night Junior League.[2]

Curling career

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Men's

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When Polo transitioned from juniors to men's, he joined Pete Fenson's team at second. The team also consisted of John Shuster at lead and Shawn Rojeski at third. Team Fenson won the United States Olympic trials ahead of the 2006 Winter Olympics, which also counted as the 2005 National Championships. As a result, they represented the United States at the 2005 World Men's Curling Championship, where they just missed the playoffs when they lost a tiebreaker game to Norway's Pål Trulsen. At the Olympics they lost to Canada, skipped by Brad Gushue, in the semifinals and then defeated David Murdoch's Team Great Britain to take the bronze medal. Shortly after the Olympics completed they successfully defended their United States National Title at the 2006 National Men's Championship, which earned them another trip to the World Championship. At the 2006 World Men's Championship, held in Lowell, Massachusetts, they finished in fourth place when they lost the 3 vs 4 page playoff game to Norway's Thomas Ulsrud. On January 16, 2007, the team was named the 2006 USOC Team of the Year.[3]

Polo continued to play second on Fenson's team for another eight seasons, winning the United States Men's Championship three more times. The only year they didn't compete at the National Championship was in 2009, when they ended up one win short of earning a spot at the play-in tournament, and missed the combination National Championship and Olympic Trials.[4]

After participating at the 2010 Worlds and finishing in fourth place,[5] Polo, Fenson, Rojeski, and Ryan Brunt went to the 2011 Continental Cup of Curling, where Team North America defeated Team World. The team then headed to the 2011 US Nationals, where they again won gold when they finished the tournament undefeated. They represented the United States at the 2011 Ford World Men's Curling Championship in April at Regina, Saskatchewan, finishing in 10th place with a 3–8 win–loss record after a series of close losses.

Starting in the 2016–17 season, Polo joined John Shuster's team as a full-time alternate; the rest of the team included Tyler George, Matt Hamilton, and John Landsteiner. Polo won his sixth US title with Team Shuster at the 2017 United States Men's Championship and then the team finished the 2017 World Championship in fourth place when they lost to Switzerland in the bronze medal match.[6] At the 2017 United States Olympic Curling Trials, Team Shuster beat Heath McCormick's team in a best-of-three final series, setting up Polo's second Olympics appearance.[7] At the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, the US team lost four of its first six matches and needed to win all of its three remaining matches to qualify for the playoffs, but all of its remaining opponents (Canada, Switzerland, and Great Britain) were then among the top four teams. Nevertheless, the US team won all three matches to finish the round-robin in third place with a record of 5–4. In the semifinals they defeated Canada's Kevin Koe, a two-time world champion, to reach the gold-medal match versus Niklas Edin's team representing Sweden. The gold-medal game was close through seven ends, with the score tied 5–5, but the United States scored five in the eighth end to set up a 10–7 victory.[7][8][9] This was the first Olympic gold medal in curling for the United States.

Polo joined a team of four younger curlers, Korey Dropkin, Tom Howell, Mark Fenner, and Alex Fenson, at the start of the 2018–19 season and the team rotated line-ups throughout the season.

Mixed doubles

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In 2016, Polo teamed up with Tabitha Peterson to compete at the United States Mixed Doubles World Trials, a tournament to determine the US representative at the 2016 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Karlstad, Sweden. They finished with an impressive 9–1 record, earning them the spot at Worlds. Peterson and Polo finished the round-robin group play undefeated, losing to Russia's Alexander Krushelnitskiy and Anastasia Bryzgalova in the semifinals. In the bronze medal match they defeated Team Scotland, Bruce Mouat and Gina Aitken, 9–7.[10]

Polo has continued to compete in mixed doubles with Peterson since that first success. At the 2017 US Mixed Doubles Championship Polo and Peterson earned the silver medal losing to the brother and sister duo of Matt and Becca Hamilton in the final. Later in 2017 Polo and Peterson competed at the first United States Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials, where they finished tied for fifth with a record of 3–4.

At the 2019 United States Mixed Doubles Championship, Polo and Peterson went undefeated through the round-robin section of the tournament but ultimately lost in the semifinal to eventual champions Cory Christensen and John Shuster.[11] The next year, Polo and Peterson again faced Christensen and Shuster, but this time in the final and Peterson and Polo won 7–4.[12] This was their first mixed doubles national title, and earned them a spot at the 2020 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship and the 2021 United States Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials. But about a month before the World Championship was supposed to begin the World Curling Federation announced its cancellation due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[13] The next year the United States Curling Association announced that the 2021 US Mixed Doubles Championship would be postponed until after the 2021 World Mixed Doubles due to the pandemic, and so as 2020 national champions Polo and Peterson were invited to represent the United States at the 2021 Worlds.[14]

Personal life

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Polo attended Bemidji State University and University of North Dakota, earning an engineering degree.[2] He is employed as a project manager.[15]

Polo has a wife, Kristin, and a daughter, Ailsa. His daughter is named after Ailsa Craig, an island off of Scotland and one of only two places that granite is quarried to make curling stones.[16]

Teams

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Men's

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Season Skip Third Second Lead Alternate Coach Events
2002–03 Kristopher Perkovich Jason Smith Jeff Isaacson Tom Scott Joe Polo John Lesnak 2003 WJBCC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)[17]
2003–04 Jason Smith Joe Polo Jeff Isaacson Tom Scott John Lesnak 2003 USJCC (5th)[18][19]
2003–04 Zach Jacobson Joe Polo Jeff Thune Zane Jacobson Joel Jacobson 2004 USJCC 2nd place, silver medalist(s)[20]
2004–05 Pete Fenson Shawn Rojeski Joe Polo John Shuster Scott Baird
(WMCC)		 Bob Fenson
(WMCC)		 2005 USMCC/USOCT 1st place, gold medalist(s)[21]
2005 WMCC (6th)[22]
2005–06 Pete Fenson Shawn Rojeski Joe Polo Doug Pottinger 2006 Cont. Cup
Pete Fenson Shawn Rojeski Joe Polo John Shuster 2006 USMCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2006 OG 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2006 WMCC (4th)
2006–07 Pete Fenson Shawn Rojeski Joe Polo Doug Pottinger 2007 USMCC (5th)[23]
2007–08 Pete Fenson Shawn Rojeski Joe Polo John Shuster 2008 USMCC (6th)
2009–10 Pete Fenson Shawn Rojeski Joe Polo Tyler George 2010 USMCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2010 WMCC (4th)
2010–11 Pete Fenson Shawn Rojeski Joe Polo Ryan Brunt 2011 Cont. Cup,
2011 USMCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2011WMCC (10th)
2011–12 Pete Fenson Shawn Rojeski Joe Polo Ryan Brunt 2012 Cont. Cup,
2012 USMCC 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2012–13 Pete Fenson Shawn Rojeski Joe Polo Ryan Brunt 2013 USMCC (7th)
2013–14 Pete Fenson Shawn Rojeski Joe Polo Ryan Brunt Jared Zezel
(WMCC)		 Al Hackner
(WMCC)		 2014 USMCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2014 WMCC (10th)[24]
2014–15 Heath McCormick Chris Plys Joe Polo Colin Hufman Ryan Brunt 2015 USMCC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2015–16 Chris Plys (fourth) Pete Fenson (skip) Joe Polo Jason Smith 2016 USMCC (5th)
2016–17 John Shuster Tyler George Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Joe Polo 2017 USMCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2017 WMCC (4th)
2017–18 John Shuster Tyler George Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Joe Polo 2017 USOCT 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2018 OG 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2018–19 Joe Polo Jeff Currie Jared Zezel Derek Benson
2019–20 Korey Dropkin Tom Howell Mark Fenner Alex Fenson Joe Polo 2020 USMCC (5th)
2020–21[25] Korey Dropkin Joe Polo Mark Fenner Thomas Howell Alex Fenson 2021 USMCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2021–22 Korey Dropkin Joe Polo Mark Fenner Thomas Howell Alex Fenson

Mixed doubles

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Season Male Female Events
2015–16 Joe Polo Tabitha Peterson 2016 WMDCC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2016–17 Joe Polo Tabitha Peterson 2017 USMDCC 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2017–18 Joe Polo Tabitha Peterson 2017 USMDCOT (5th)
2018–19 Joe Polo Tabitha Peterson 2019 USMDCC (SF)
2019–20 Joe Polo Tabitha Peterson 2020 USMDCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2020–21[26] Joe Polo Tabitha Peterson 2021 WMDCC (8th)
2021–22 Joe Polo Tabitha Peterson

References

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  1. ^ "Team Joe Polo". CurlingZone. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  2. ^ a b Monteith, Austin (February 28, 2020). "Bemidji's golden boy: Olympic gold medalist Joe Polo back home for Mixed Doubles Nationals". The Bemidji Pioneer. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  3. ^ USOC honors top U.S. athletes for 2006, http://www.usolympicteam.com/117_50738.htm
  4. ^ "Fenson rink falls short in Olympic trials bid". The Bemidji Pioneer. February 3, 2009. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  5. ^ "Curling: U.S. men fall in third-place match". Duluth News Tribune. April 12, 2010. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  6. ^ "Ford World Men's Curling Championship 2017". World Curling Federation. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  7. ^ a b Peters, Justin (February 22, 2018). "Somebody Needs to Make a Movie About John Shuster and His Ragtag Team of Curling Rejects". Slate Magazine. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  8. ^ Estes, Gentry (February 23, 2018). "Morning Coffee: To John Shuster of USA Curling: I'm sorry for doubting you". Louisville Courier-Journal. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  9. ^ Hendricks, Maggie (February 28, 2018). "Olympic curler John Shuster on the mantra that brought his team back from brink of elimination". USA Today. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  10. ^ "World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2016: Tournament details". results.worldcurling.org. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  11. ^ "USA Curling Mixed Doubles National Championship: Team Peterson – St. Paul, MN". Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  12. ^ Monteith, Austin (March 1, 2020). "CURLING: Bemidji native Polo, Peterson win Mixed Doubles National Championship". The Bemidji Pioneer. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  13. ^ Potenteau, Doyle (March 14, 2020). "Coronavirus: World mixed doubles, seniors curling championships in Kelowna cancelled". Global News. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  14. ^ "PETERSON/POLO TO REPRESENT UNITED STATES AT 2021 WORLD MIXED DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP". USA Curling. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  15. ^ 2017 Ford Worlds Media Guide: Team USA
  16. ^ Gelineau, Kristen (February 20, 2018). "Premature baby named after curling rock island defies odds". The Washington Times. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  17. ^ "World Junior "B" Curling Championships 2003". World Curling Federation. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  18. ^ "Teams". Broomstones Curling Club. Archived from the original on December 3, 2002. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  19. ^ "Final Standings". Curling Rocks. Archived from the original on February 12, 2003. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  20. ^ "Minnesota teams golden at Junior Nationals". USA Curling. Feb 7, 2004. Archived from the original on Mar 12, 2005. Retrieved Mar 22, 2021.
  21. ^ "Fenson rink wins U.S. Olympic Team Trials". USA Curling. February 26, 2005. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  22. ^ "Ford World Men's Curling Championship 2005". World Curling Federation. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  23. ^ "U.S. National Championships – Teams". CurlingZone. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  24. ^ "CPT World Men's Curling Championship 2014". World Curling Federation. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  25. ^ "Team Dropkin Returns". USA Curling. May 6, 2020. Archived from the original on May 7, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  26. ^ "Mixed Doubles Teams Announced". USA Curling. May 20, 2020. Archived from the original on May 20, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
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