Olympic champ Gushue eliminated from pre-trials

Despite one of the strongest seasons of his curling career, Newfoundland's Brad Gushue has been eliminated from the Canadian Olympic pre-trials. Gushue's dream of repeating as the Olympic champion ended Friday afternoon when he lost to Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard.

After Gushue was upset by Ted Appleman on Thursday, the 2006 Olympic champ was dropped down to the C pool and could afford no more losses.

Menard forced Gushue into taking a single point in the opening end and then capitalized with the hammer in the second end, scorig two points. With the score tied in the third end, Menard leaped out ahead after picking up three points to take a 5-2 lead.

Despite scoring a deuce in the ninth end, Gushue could not recover and lost the game 7-5. This ends Gushue's run at the pre-trials and means he will miss out of the Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials next month.

Ever since his victory in 2006, Gushue has been very vocal about his desire to return to the Olympic Games. His strong start to the 2009-2010 season, including several World Curling Tour titles and strong showings at Grand Slam events, seemed promising that the young skip may get his chance to defend his title. But after this loss to Menard, Gushue will have to put his dreams on hold until the 2014 Games in Russia.

Menard will take on Middaugh for a chance to stay alive in the event. So far from the men's side, Jeff Stoughton and Pat Simmons have both advanced to the Olympic trials.

Content courtesy of: Curling Scoops