Barker heading to Sochi
Dianne Barker can cross one item off her bucket list.
The Kamloops Curling Club (KCC) member will serve as an on-ice technical official at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
“It’s an appointment you don’t solicit or ask for,” said Barker, who last week heard the good news from Keith Wendorf, the World Curling Federation’s (WCF) development officer and director of competitions.
“If the opportunity comes around, you appreciate it.”
Barker served as a volunteer at the Vancouver Games in 2010 and was chief umpire at the world junior curling championships earlier this year in Östersund, Sweden.
She was also chief umpire at the 2011 world juniors in Perth, Scotland.
“The trial event for Olympics being world juniors, I hoped I was on their radar screen,” Barker said.
It’s clear now the former president of the B.C. Ladies’ Curling Association was pegged by the WCF as a prime candidate for the position in Sochi.
Barker plans on relishing the opportunity to interact with curling’s best on the ice, where providing measurements and rule explanations will be among her duties.
There won’t be much time to explore the city’s Stalinist architecture or surrounding mountains — most of the local Remax employee’s time will be spent at the rink.
“When you do these jobs, you’re working from 6:30 in the morning until 10 at night,” said Barker, noting her husband, Ed, will have more time for sightseeing.
Sochi is hosting the 2013 world juniors from Feb. 28 to March 10.
Officials use the event as a test run for the Olympics, meaning Barker will be racking up a boatload of air miles in the next two years.
Barker, Curl BC’s officiating co-ordinator, was recognized at the KCC’s annual general meeting last week.
“People were really excited for me, which was great,” she said.
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