Candian Olympian Marc Kennedy clashed with a reporter shortly after telling a rival to ‘f*** off’ over cheating allegations that have stunned the usually quiet world of curling.
Kennedy, competing at his fourth Winter Olympics, and Canada received a warning from World Curling on Saturday morning after Kennedy took huge offense at being accused of cheating by Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson.
The Swede accused Kennedy, 44, of ‘double touching’ – essentially, touching the rock again after initially releasing it down the sheet of ice – during Canada’s 8-6 win. Television replays showed why Eriksson might have thought something was up but referees conlcuded that no rules had been broken by Kennedy.
‘I haven’t done it once,’ the Canadian shouted across the sheet at Eriksson, amid his furious outburst that was captured on the SVT broadcast. ‘You can f*** off.’
‘I’ll show you a video after the game,’ Eriksson responded. ‘I’ll show you a video where it’s two meters over the hog line.’
‘Come on, Oskar. Just f*** off,’ Kennedy fired back. And he didn’t stop there.
The Winter Olympics curling match between Canada and Sweden became heated on Friday
Marc Kennedy (left) and Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson came to blows amid a cheating feud
Kennedy, 44, even clashed with a reporter after the drama on the ice at the Games in Italy
According to the National Post, Kennedy also took issue on being questioned about swearing by a Swedish reporter after the drama on the ice had ended.
‘You’ve never seen two guys have a heated argument before?’ Kennedy reportedly said when asked if his language could have been more respectful.
‘Like, is this a personal conversation? I don’t need to defend myself to a news reporter.’
He even said that the clash could be good for the sport, adding: ‘I’ve got friends from back home who aren’t huge curling fans, they’re like, ‘what’s going on?’
‘I’ve got my daughter texting me “Marc’s getting spicy out there!” It shines a little extra light on the sport. Sometimes that’s not a bad thing.’
But given World Curling warned Canada and Kennedy, it’s safe to say the governing body didn’t quite agree.
For his part, Eriksson told reporters afterwards that he remained sure that Kennedy had been double touching.
‘We want a game that is as sportsmanlike, honest and clean as possible,’ Eriksson said.
It was Swedish star Eriksson who led the accusations against Canada and Kennedy
Kennedy’s Canada team received a warning for swearing but the referees did not find any conclusive evidence to rule that they had cheated against Sweden
As for Kennedy swearing at him, Eriksson added: ‘That’s on him. I said what we’d told the umpires because we thought some of them were touching the stone, on or after the hogline, and that’s not allowed.’
On Saturday, World Curling said it spoke to Canadian team officials after the match and issued a verbal warning because of the language used by Kennedy.
World Curling said ‘further inappropriate behavior… would result in additional sanctions,’ including possible suspension.
The rules state that a stone must be delivered using the handle that sits on top of the rock and that it must be released from the hand before it reaches the hog line. At the Olympics, that is the thick green line at each end.
In the early ends of the match, Sweden notified the officials of their complaints.
An official then remained at the hog line for three ends to monitor Canada´s curlers and no violations were recorded, World Curling confirmed in its statement on Saturday.