After beating Great Britain in Saturday’s final at Milano Cortina, the team’s skip Brad Jacobs defended his squad against Swedish claims that Canadian player Marc Kennedy committed irregularities during the round-robin.
Before Jacobs spoke, Kennedy gave a passionate and tense address, using strong language to defend the integrity of his play after it was questioned in the game against Sweden days earlier. After a week in the spotlight due to controversy, Team Canada capped their Olympic run on Saturday with a 9–6 victory over Great Britain, as Kennedy celebrated the gold medal with his fist raised.
“It means a lot to me to see my teammates with a medal around their necks. I don’t know if people will ever understand what we went through as a team this week, or what I put them through,” he said.
Despite Canada’s triumph, controversy lingered over Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson’s accusations against Kennedy. Kennedy angrily denied the claims, which have shadowed curling throughout the Games. Sweden, who won 8–6, alleged that Canada’s vice-skip illegally touched his stone and gave it a secondary push with his finger after release. He was reported to the referees, and while the play could not be reviewed, an official was stationed at the green line to prevent further infringements.
At the Games, World Curling installed electronic handles on the stones that light up red if players maintain contact past the hog line, the point at which curlers must release the stone. However, because the sensor is in the handle, Sweden claimed that Canadian players were touching the granite itself, which is not equipped with sensors.
Jacobs also appeared defiant on Saturday, not holding back during the post-match press conference. He said, “I’ll guarantee you that only motivated us further to go out and prove to everyone that we’re the best team. Now we’re at the top of the podium, I would say we’re the best team in the world.”
The Canadian later spoke more calmly, emphasising the special place of curling in his country and appealing to the integrity of the sport. “Integrity means a lot to us. We wanted to prove everyone wrong and rise to the top of the podium,” he stated.
Kennedy celebrates Olympic gold with his fist raised.
Mattia Ozbot/GETTY IMAGES
Kennedy, who said after the Swedish accusations that he and his family had received threats on social media, admitted he “let his emotions get the better of him” and insisted that his overreaction had been an attempt to defend his team and his country. “I stood up for my teammates. I’ll never back down from that. We moved on, we moved forward, and we achieved something incredible. A weaker team would have completely fallen apart,” he added.
Jacobs captured his second Olympic gold medal in men’s curling on Saturday, 12 years after his first in Sochi in 2014. He defeated the world number one, Bruce Mouat, the skip of the Great Britain. For Jacobs’ teammates Kennedy and Ben Hebert, this is their second gold medal, following their victory in Vancouver 2010, and a return to form after losing the semifinal at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics.
Kennedy also won bronze in Beijing 2022 and is Canada’s most decorated Olympic curler. Mouat settled for silver once again, having lost the final to Sweden’s Niklas Edin at Beijing 2022.
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