A curler as Canada’s flag bearer? What a wonderful choice that would be

If you don't think Jennifer Jones deserves to be Canada's flag bearer at the closing ceremony of the Sochi Olympics, you're wrong.

It's not that there aren't other deserving candidates. There are. There always are. As far back as my memory can take me, there has always been more than one person deserving of the great honour of carrying Canada's flag into a stadium at the end of a Games, summer and winter.

If you just don't like curling, that's fine. There's no accounting for taste. No need to defend it, either. When it comes to matters such as that, you like what you like, dislike what you dislike and that's it.

But, if you think Jennifer Jones doesn't deserve to carry the flag because she's 'just a curler,' you're wrong.

We celebrate our athletes' accomplishments at games like this, based on their performance. But not solely so. Even if we did, Jones is deserving.

However, we constantly look for more than just winning when we choose those worthy of the praise. Dogged determination, through adversity or injury - sometimes both - is a quality that we hold dear.

Just over a year ago, Jones returned to the ice after rehabilitation on a knee. If you don't know that much about curling, I am sure you can still appreciate how that can be a setback for someone who assumes the position of a shooter as they set up, kick out of the hack and deliver a stone.

Beyond that, there had been a tag tied to Jones and not unfairly. That, as good as she had been, she had not illustrated a dominating presence at the global level. Ignoring the detractors, putting her head down and working hard, battling what must have been some measure of self doubt at times, the skip of Canada's gold medal champions arrived at the top of the podium.

The skier who races the fastest, the figure skater who nails a program, the aerialist who meets the moment with a perfect tumble and twist. They all get celebrated for shining in that moment, and rightfully so. Over the course of one's life, what amounts to a sliver of time can cement one's place in our minds as a champion. A moment in which they have invested so much.

What if you did that eleven times over the course of a week and a half?

That's just what Jones did. Eleven games, eleven outstanding performances. Against the world's best competition, she led her team to the top of the podium by being just about letter perfect, each and every time. In that eleventh moment, the championship game, she brought out another superb performance, matching that moment with the excellence that we readily applaud in our sports heroes.

If you think the sport of curling doesn't meet with the criteria that we hold dear in sporting accomplishment, think again.

If you believe that it doesn't take exacting skill - honed over thousands upon thousands of hours - to place a forty pound stone in exactly the right place from a starting point 126 feet away from the target, if you believe that the success of that shot - under Olympic pressure - can come without a rare talent for accuracy and nerves that don't waiver, you're wrong.

We routinely praise the cooperation and selflessness that our hockey teams display and, again, correctly so. In the game of curling, that same dedication to working as a unit is just as present and every bit as crucial as it is in the other team sports. If any one of the shooter, the sweepers or the person calling line from the house falter, the shot is not made.

If you think that curling at the world class level is not a test of physical fitness, take a look at the faces of Jones' teammates Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen, just after furiously working the brooms on a single shot. Then multiply that by two dozen times over the course of a game, with each and every sweep getting that much harder on the arms, the legs and even the mind.

If you think curling is just happily sliding around and bashing rocks, as easy as anything could be, think again. It is just not the case.

If you believe someone else is a better choice as flag bearer, so be it. You can probably make a case - and a good one - for about a dozen or so athletes. Include Jennifer Jones in the conversation, though, even if her sport of choice does not conform exactly to your tastes.

Because if you think a curler doesn't deserve to be Canada's flag bearer at the closing ceremony, you're just wrong.