Canada’s curlers have responded to Sweden’s cheating allegations with accusations of their own towards the Scandinavian team.
On Friday (February 13), Canada’s Marc Kennedy and Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson became embroiled in a heated exchange near the end of the North American nation’s 8–6 victory.
The Swedish team accused two-time Olympic medallist Kennedy of double-touching the stone; however, the sensors installed on the top of the stone remained green and would have turned red if this were the case.
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However, TV pictures appeared to show that the 44-year-old had double-touched the stone on several occasions, despite it not being picked up by the sensor.
Both teams asked officials to monitor the proceedings. According to World Curling’s rules, a player must release their grip on the handle before the hog line – a thick green line through the centre of the ice.
The sport’s governing body later released a statement explaining that the Canadian team had been issued a verbal warning due to the use of inappropriate language towards their opponents.
The Canadian curling team have been accused of cheating (Credit:Getty)
The statement read: “Following the situations arising from the Sweden versus Canada game in men’s session four on Friday (13 February) evening, several issues require clarification.
“Game umpires are situated at the end of each sheet and physically cannot see every delivery infraction. However, when they are made aware of delivery issues, game umpires are positioned to observe the delivery for three ends.
“During this period of observation in the Friday evening game, there were no violations recorded.”
On Saturday (February 14), Kennedy was accused of double-touching again, this time by Swiss lead Pablo Lachat-Couchepin, who explained how he “saw” his opponent do it before adding that he was “a bit annoyed”.
“I really believe it does nothing – it doesn’t change the stone – but when you have a referee looking at it, they should see it,” the Swiss player told BBC Sport.
Switzerland beat Canada 9–5 despite Kennedy’s alleged double-touching technique.
Canadian curler Marc Kennedy has been accused of cheating (Credit:Getty)
Now, Kennedy has fired back and claimed that someone on the Sweden team filmed his deliveries as a way of influencing the event.
“They have come up with a plan here at the Olympics, as far as I know, to catch teams in the act at the hog line,” he told reporters. “This was planned, right from the word go yesterday. From the words that were being said by their coaches and the way they were running to the officials, it was kind of evident that something was going on and they were trying to catch us in the act.”
“I know we’re not the only team that they’ve done that to,” Kennedy added. “So I think this was — I don’t know what the word is for that — but like a premeditated plan to try to catch us.”
The Swedish team has denied the allegations and claimed the video was filmed by a Swedish public broadcaster.
According to Olympic rules, only Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) are permitted to film events.
Canada’s coach, Paul Webster, also waded in and said that Sweden “had video of the Italian team” as well.
“So they’ve got people up there videoing, and that whole thing was premeditated and planned,” he said. “They were there, ready at the hog line, video recording.”
Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Olympics, Sweden
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World Curling Issue Statement Following ‘Cheating’ Incident In Canada Vs Sweden
The curling governing body has been forced to speak out following the controversial incident at the Winter Olympic Games.
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World Curling has spoken out following the controversial allegations of cheating during the match between Canada and Sweden at the Winter Olympic Games.
The 2026 Winter Olympics are currently underway across Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, with more than 90 countries represented by around 2,900 athletes across 16 days.
To the surprise of many, curling is the sport that has blown up in popularity this year, with many tuning in to follow the tense matches.
However, the sport was thrown into disarray on Friday night after Canada’s men’s team were accused by opponents Sweden of cheating during their round robin fixture.
And now, World Curling has been forced to directly address the situation in a statement released online.
Al Bello/Getty Images
Tensions in the curling match between Canada and Sweden were high from the very start after proceedings were halted as Sweden claimed that their opponents were touching the stone after release.
They asked that officials closely monitor things, but the issue continued to bug Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson who accused Marc Kennedy of double-touching the stones.
Kennedy was furious at the accusation, telling his opponent to ‘f*** off’ before adding that he would be eager to review the footage of his actions post-match.
And now, World Curling have spoken out to clarify the rule regarding player double-touching stones, seemingly standing by Kennedy and Canada as any potential second touches were before the stone had crossed the hog line.
The statement read: “Following the situations arising from the Sweden versus Canada game in men’s session four on Friday (13 February) evening, several issues require clarification.
“Game Umpires are situated at the end of each sheet and physically cannot see every delivery infraction. However, when they are made aware of delivery issues, game umpires are positioned to observe the delivery for three ends.
“During this period of observation in the Friday evening game, there were no violations recorded.
When delivering a stone, before the hog line players can retouch the handle as many times as they wish.
“However, touching the handle after the hog line is not allowed and will result in a the stone being removed from play as per Rule R.5 (e) that states: “A stone must be clearly released from the hand before it reaches the hog line at the delivery end. If the player fails to do so, the stone is immediately removed from play by the delivering team.”
Despite clarifying that Canada’s controversial methods were within the rules, the governing body added that starting on Saturday afternoon, there would be two officials that would move between all four sheets to observe deliveries going forward.
Odd ANDERSEN / AFP via Getty Images
The statement also confirmed that Canada was given a verbal warning about the language used by Kennedy during the game.
Should Kennedy, or other Canadian players, continue with the ‘inappropriate behaviour’, World Curling confirmed that it would hand out additional sanctions.
Rule R.19 states: “Improper conduct, foul or offensive language, equipment abuse, or wilful damage on the part of any team member is prohibited. Any violation may result in suspension of the offending person(s) by the curling organisation having jurisdiction.”
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