(Reuters) - Canadian Ryan Fry, who took a leave of absence from the team he won an Olympic gold medal with in 2014 after being kicked out of a competition for alcohol-fuelled bad behaviour, will return to curling next week.
Fry was serving as a spare with another rink when he and three team mates were thrown out of a World Curling Tour event in Alberta in November for what organisers called unsportsmanlike behaviour resulting from excessive drinking.
Fry will make his return at the Jan. 8-13 Grand Slam Curling event in Saskatchewan.
"How we handle adversity can show how strong we can really be," Fry said on Twitter. "2018 threw a few punches...glancing blows. I felt the love and am turning the hatred into fuel."
The 40-year-old has apologised for his actions and said he was committed to taking steps to ensure a similar incident never happens again.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)