Wednesday, February 24, 2010, Calgary, Alberta - Susan O'Connor (Respiratory Therapy, ’99), playing third on Team Bernard in Women's Curling at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games is ready to take on anything the Games can throw at her.

After O'Connor graduated from SAIT in 1999, she went on to work as a respiratory therapist in an acute care facility.

"Team work is a big part of both curling and working as a health care professional," said O'Connor. "Because I work in acute care, I am put in some stressful situations - handling pressure and keeping my composure under stress are all part of my job."

O'Connor says she often wished she would one day compete at the Olympics, but it wasn't really something she believed would happen.

"I grew up in Calgary and was in elementary school for the '88 Olympics so I got a little taste of the Games, but back then, I never really imagined I would be curling at the Olympics one day," said O'Connor.

Team Bernard, with O'Connor as third, won their spot at the Olympic Games in Vancouver after beating Team Kleibrink at the Tim Horton's Canadian Curling Trials Final December 12, 2009. Since then, curling has been a full time job. Between practicing, talking to the media, getting oriented in Vancouver and mentally preparing for the games, there hasn't been much time for anything else. And now that the Games have opened, Team Bernard will be eating, breathing and sleeping their game.

On February 22, Team Bernard was in first place of the women's round robin with seven wins and one loss. After playing Russia in the final game of the round robin, Canada moves on to the medal round, playing Switzerland in the women's semifinal on Thursday morning.

In the days to come Team Bernard will be tested, but regardless of the outcome, O'Connor and her teammates are satisfied with their accomplishments over the past year.

"I don't regret anything we've done up until this point," said O'Connor. "If any of us stepped away at this point, we'd be pretty happy with what we've accomplished in our curling careers."

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