The biggest surprise of the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships is the sight of Camilla Johansson skipping the Swedish women's team.

That sight has been, until now, an exclusive vision of Anette Norberg, the defending world and Olympic champion, who also won the last five European women's titles in succession. But the unheralded Johansson managed to defeat Norberg last March -- between Norberg's Olympic and Ford World Championship victories -- to decide Sweden's team at this year's event.

"It was a great feeling beating her, such a great team," said Johansson.

"I had tried for several years to beat her team in playoff games but never succeeded until (March). Now we are well prepared for the European Championship and of course we will try to defend the Swedish gold medal."

Make that five consecutive gold medals, since 2001.

"I have a good team with lots of experience," said Johansson. She's right. Two team members, Katarina Nyberg and Elisabeth Persson, were members of Elisabet Gustafson's legendary Swedish team which won four World and European Championships in the 1990s. Lead Maria Hasselborg was on Norberg's 2001 Euro title-winning foursome.

The Swedes face a tough field in the women's A division.

As evidenced by last month's Continental Cup, Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott is still displaying the form she showed in Turin last February, where she almost beat Norberg in a thrilling Olympic final.

Two veterans also stand in the way. Dordi Norby of Norway, who finished fourth in Turin, is making a record 22nd appearance at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships, while Germany's Andrea Schöpp shares the record for European titles with Norberg, at six. Nordby and Schöpp also sit first and second in ECC career game wins; Nordby with 115 and Schöpp with 112.

Also in the field is the dynamic Russian squad led by Ludmilla Privivkova, Denmark's Angelina Jensen, Italy's Diana Gaspari and the 2002 Olympic gold medallist from Scotland, Rhona Martin.

The competition begins at 8:00am local time on Saturday, with women's A division play.

Preview - men's tournament

The Le Gruyère European Curling Championships will boast a record number of teams when play begins Saturday in Switzerland's third-largest city.

52 teams from 30 countries -- 30 men's squads and 22 women's teams -- will compete in two divisions, A and B, at both the St. Jakob Arena and the Curling-Center Basel-Arlesheim.

In addition to gold, silver and bronze-medal honours, the A division rewards the top seven men's and women's finishers with a berth in the World Curling Championships in March. The B division, which includes teams from Lithuania and Serbia in their debut appearance, awards the top men's and women's team the chance to challenge the eighth-place A finishers for the final world berth.

Broadcast live on Eurosport and other national TV networks -- including NRK in Norway and SSR-SRG in Switzerland -- the competition concludes on Saturday December 16.

Controversy struck the men's Swiss team just days ago when third Andreas Hänni was removed from the lineup by skip Andreas Schwaller. Hänni's replacement, Ralph Stöckli, is a rival skip (captain).

"It was a tough decision, but the European Championship has great importance for our team," said Schwaller, the 2002 Olympic bronze medallist. "It's going to be great to play with Ralph. Being the home team might add some extra pressure so we want to be the most prepared."

Stöckli, a former world junior champion and skip of the 2006 Swiss Olympic team, is looking forward to the opportunity to join his longtime rival on the ice.

"I know Andi very well from our history as opponents," said Stöckli. "I am looking forward to competing with him. We do this for Switzerland!"

The Swiss men will be aiming for a fast start, as they face lightly-regarded France, Wales, Ireland and Denmark to start the week. However, Schwaller closes the round-robin portion of the event with five consecutive matches against battle-hardened teams: Per Carlsen of Sweden, defending world champion David Murdoch of Scotland, Olympic silver medallist Markku Uusipaavalniemi of Finland, former European champion Sebastian Stock of Germany, and world bronze medallist Thomas Ulsrud of Norway.

Norway is the defending men's champion. Last year in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 2002 Olympic gold medallist Pål Trulsen defeated Sweden's Peja Lindholm in the Le Gruyère final. Trulsen did not attempt to represent Norway at this year's championship, and his veteran team will retire from competition this spring.