Bradley Raymond Gushue, ONL ( ; born June 16, 1980) is a retired Canadian curler from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Gushue, along with teammates Russ Howard, Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam, represented Canada in curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they won the gold medal by defeating Finland 10–4. He also represented Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics, where he won a bronze medal. In addition to the Olympics, Gushue won the 2017 World Men's Curling Championship with teammates Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant, and Geoff Walker.
Gushue has played in 23 Briers, Canada's national men's curling championship, more than any other curler, and has won the event a record six times, equalling the most ever with teammates Mark Nichols and Geoff Walker and Albertan Randy Ferbey. He was a Brier champion skip in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 all with Nichols, Gallant and Walker, except for 2023 and 2024 with E. J. Harnden replacing Gallant. Their win in 2017 was Newfoundland and Labrador's first Brier title in 41 years. At the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier, Gushue set a new record for Brier game wins as a skip, breaking a three-way tie with previous record-holders Russ Howard and Kevin Martin. Gushue played in the Brier every year from 2003 to 2026, except in 2006, when he was unable to participate due to being at the Olympics in Italy. He represented his native Newfoundland and Labrador in each edition except in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, and , where as defending champion, his rink was designated Team Canada, and at the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier, when he was the Wild Card 1 team, as the team missed the Newfoundland and Labrador playdowns as they were at the Olympics.
Career Junior Gushue won his first provincial title of any kind in 1995, when he won that year's Men's Newfoundland and Labrador Junior Championship playing second for a team skipped by Ryan Davis. This qualified his rink to play at the 1995 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, where he was the youngest competitor in either the men's or women's fields, at the age of 14. There, the team finished in last place with 1–10 record. Gushue recalls "crying after just about every game because we got the (crap) kicked out of us". Gushue hated throwing second stones, and would only skip teams from that point on in his career.
Gushue would go on to win five more provincial junior titles as a skip (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001). At the 1996 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, he led his team of Randy Turpin, Brett Reynolds and Colin Josephson to a 5–7 record. At the 1998 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, he led his team of Ryan Davis, Jason Davidge and Reynolds to a 4–8 record. Following the event, Gushue was named the alternate for the John Morris rink at the 1998 World Junior Curling Championships, which they won. Gushue played in one game at the event.
At the 1999 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, with a new team of Mark Nichols, Neal Blackmore and Steve Parsons, he improved significantly, finishing the event with an 8–4 record. This put them into the semifinal, where they lost to Ontario's John Morris rink, settling for bronze medals. At the 2000 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, with a new front end of Jamie Korab and Mike Adam, Gushue led Newfoundland to an even better 10–2 record. In the playoffs, they downed Saskatchewan's Brock Montgomery rink in the semis, before losing to British Columbia's Brad Kuhn rink in the final, settling for silver medals. The game was lost when Gushue came up short on a draw attempt in an extra end. Gushue was named the all-star skip at the tournament.
At the 2001 Canadian Juniors, the team, with new second Brent Hamilton, finished the round robin with a 9–3 record, tied for first place. The team earned a bye to the final against Manitoba's Mike McEwen team, which Gushue and company beat, winning the championship title. Gushue finished the tournament with a record 38 career victories, eclipsing Morris who had 33, and also held records for most appearances at six, and most as a skip at five. The team then went on to represent Canada at the 2001 World Junior Curling Championships, where he led the team to a 7–2 round robin record. The team then beat Scotland (skipped by David Edwards in the semifinal before beating Denmark (Casper Bossen) in the final to claim gold. Gushue made a successful takeout to break a 6–6 tie in the 10th end to win the game.
Men's Early men's: 2002–2005 After his outstanding career as a junior, Gushue made an impressive transition into men's curling, and his team quickly became a competitive force. Gushue, and his new men's team played in the first edition of the Masters Grand Slam event in 2002 at home in Newfoundland. The team managed two wins before being eliminated.
Gushue played in the Newfoundland and Labrador provincial men's championship for the first time in 2002 with teammates Mark Nichols, Mike Adam and Eugene Trickett. The team made it to the playoffs, before losing in the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game to Mark Noseworthy, who went on to win the event. Gushue would then win the provincial tankard the following year with teammates Nichols, Jamie Korab and Mark Ward, defeating Noseworthy in the final, 7–3. This qualified them for the 2003 Nokia Brier, Canada's national championship. In the meantime, Gushue, Nichols and different front end of Denni Neufeld and Mike Adam played in the 2003 Players' Championship Grand Slam held before the Brier. There, the team lost all three of their games. At the 2003 Brier, the team finished with a 6–5 record, just missing the playoffs. He was the youngest skip at the event.
Gushue won his first World Curling Tour event at the 2003 Coupe Saguenay de Curling event with teammates Craig Kochan, Ian Robertson and Ken McDermot. Gushue, Nichols, Korab and Ward won their second straight Newfoundland championship in 2004, defeating Mark Noseworthy again, 7–2 in a game that had to be postponed due to a power outage and freezing weather in Labrador City. This qualified the quartet for the 2004 Nokia Brier, where Gushue was the youngest player in the field. There, Gushue proved not only was he one of the best curlers in Newfoundland, but one of the best in Canada, when his team finished with an 8–3 round robin record, and placed fourth after losing the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game against British Columbia's Jay Peachey rink. Gushue was named the All Star skip at the Brier for the first time. The team wrapped up the season at the 2004 Players' Championship on home ice in St. John's, where they made it as far as a tiebreaker before losing to Guy Hemmings.
Team Gushue, now with Keith Ryan at second and Korab at lead had an even busier 2004–05 season. They played in the 2004 BDO Curling Classic Grand Slam, but did not make the playoffs. A month later, the team won the Canada Cup East event, qualifying the team for the 2005 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, something they had just missed out on doing at the previous Brier. In the new year, the team played in the 2005 Canadian Open of Curling Grand Slam event, going 1–3 in pool play and missing the playoffs. The team then had to quickly head back to Newfoundland for the provincial championship, where they beat Mark Noseworthy again in the final, 5–4. At the 2005 Tim Hortons Brier, his team once again finished 6–5. Soon afterwards, the team played in the 2005 Canada Cup of Curling where they went 1–4 in pool place. The team wrapped up the season by making it to Gushue's first Slam final at the 2005 Players' Championship, when he finished second after losing to Kevin Martin in the final game.
Golden Gushue: 2005–06 In April 2005, it was announced that Gushue brought in former world champion Russ Howard as fifth man on the team to bring experience and advice for the Canadian Olympic trials, Shortly afterwards, second Mike Adam (who had replaced Keith Ryan at second) volunteered to step aside for Howard, as the team felt that Howard's skills and experience gave them the best chance to make it to the Olympics. Howard, playing as second, was given the right to call the team's shots as a skip would but would defer to Gushue for the final word on calls. (Under international rules, Howard was nominally the skip, holding the broom in the house and sweeping opponents' stones behind the tee line.) The team first experimented with this lineup at the 2005 National Grand Slam, where they made it to the quarterfinals, before losing to Randy Ferbey.
While many critics didn't give the team a chance going into the 2005 Olympic Trials, the personnel change was a success, with the team finishing the round robin with an 8–1 record, good enough for first place, and a bye to the final on December 11, 2005, against Jeff Stoughton, who was one of those critics. Gushue, who was the youngest last-rock thrower at the event, defeated Stoughton 8–7. He made a runback on his last, taking out a Stoughton rock, convinced he had won. Stoughton, hoping that one of his rocks was biting then drew to the house, hoping to have tied the game at 8. However, a measurement determined that Stoughton had only scored one, thus losing the game. With the win, the team qualified for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, making Gushue (with Nichols, Korab and Adams) only the second Newfoundlander to represent Canada at the Winter Olympics after Dwayne Norris.
Following the Trials, the team played in the 2006 BDO Classic Canadian Open Slam event as a tune-up for the Olympics. The team finished the event with a 2–2 record in pool play, and lost to Dave Boehmer in a tiebreaker. The team's final event before the Olympics was the 2006 Canada Cup of Curling, where they missed the playoffs after finishing with a 2–3 record.
At the Olympics, the World Curling Federation officially considered Russ Howard the team's skip, as he held the broom in the house, even though the team was still called "Team Gushue" in Canada. There, the team finished the round robin portion with a 6–3 record, including a loss to the host Italians, skipped by Joel Retornaz who became an "overnight celebrity" in the country which only had about 150 curlers at the time. The record was good enough to make the playoffs, where they first played the United States, skipped by Pete Fenson, in the semifinal. The team had their best game of the event up that point, beating the Americans 11–5. This put the team into the final against surprise finalist Finland's Markku Uusipaavalniemi. On February 24, the date of the final, a provincial order allowed for the closure of all schools across Newfoundland and Labrador at noon, one hour before local coverage of the event began to allow students to watch the game, with the province's education minister Joan Burke stating "[w]e want our students to remember exactly where they were when they saw the world recognize the talent in this province". The game started out close, with Canada up 4–3 after five, but Canada put the game away by scoring a six-ender in the sixth. Gushue actually had a draw for seven on his last, but adrenaline got the best of him, and his rock sailed through the house. The game went two more ends before Finland conceded, with Canada winning its first gold medal in men's curling, by a final score of 10–4. With his teammates, Gushue became the first Newfoundlander ever to win an Olympic gold medal. Following their victory, the team received honorary degrees from Memorial University and had a highway named after them.
The team wrapped up the season at the 2006 Players' Championship, where they were win-less, losing all four games in pool play.
Brier runners-up: 2006–07