Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson’s Winter Olympics may have come to an end, but he has refused to let his feud with his Canadian rival, Marc Kennedy, die down.
Eriksson and Kennedy found themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of the Games in Milan-Cortina when they sparked a cheating controversy during the preliminary-round match between their two nations last week.
The Swede, 34, repeatedly accused him of double-touching his deliveries – touching the rock again after initially releasing it down the sheet of ice – sparking an explosive response from Kennedy.
The 44-year-old Canadian launched into a profanity-laden exchange with Eriksson, furiously telling his opponent to ‘f*** off’ in a heated row on the sheet. He was later issued a verbal warning from World Curling for ‘inappropriate language.’
And as the Canadians prepare to face Great Britain for the gold medal on Friday evening, Eriksson has launched another attack on Kennedy.
Eriksson, whose Olympics came to an end when Sweden failed to make it to the semifinals, has refused to let it lie, taking issue with the lack of apology from Kennedy over his outburst.
Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson has refused to let go of his feud with his Canadian rival
Eriksson (right) repeatedly accused his Canadian opponent, Marc Kennedy (left), of cheating
‘You don’t react like that if you know you’re not guilty. I don’t think he slept as well that night as I did. If he now chooses to think he did the right thing, he will have to take responsibility for it,’ he told Swedish outlet Värmlands Folkblad.
He continued: ‘He hasn’t dared to look in my direction. He’s probably ashamed. Mature for a 44-year-old father of two.’
Following the on-ice row, Kennedy argued that he was set up by the Swedish team, who he claimed had concocted a plan to catch him in the act.
‘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,’ Kennedy claimed following the incident over the weekend.
‘This was planned… it was kind of evident that something was going on, and they were trying to catch us in an act.’
Kennedy and Canadian coach Paul Webster accused Sweden of installing cameras to catch them cheating.
‘I know we’re not the only team that they’ve done that to,’ Kennedy continued. ‘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.’
But Eriksson has fired back once again, accusing his opponent of ‘hypocrisy’ as he detailed his version of events.
Despite the controversy, the Canadian team reached the gold medal match in Cortina
Eriksson has taken issue with the lack of apology from Kennedy over his outburst
‘He got furious at that person (who accused him) and shouted that he had lost respect for him and thought he had been hung out to dry. He said the same thing then as now, that he had filmed a lot of opponents – but still thought that it was unsportsmanlike if someone filmed him. The double standard in that doesn’t work,’ Eriksson told the Swedish newspaper.
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 Eriksson.
The Swede accused Kennedy of ‘double touching’ multiple times throughout Canada’s 8-6 win.
Television replays showed why Eriksson might have thought something was up, but referees concluded 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.
The double-touching storm has not been confined to the men’s game. It has crossed over into women’s curling, with Canada once again caught up in the controversy.
Kennedy releases a stone at the hog line – the point on the sheet where contact must cease
The Canadian, 44, reacted furiously after being accused of double-touching on Friday
Canada’s Rachel Homan had her stone removed when an official ruled that she had touched it again after releasing the handle.
Homan’s offense occurred after World Curling directed two umpires to move between the four matches during each round to monitor play.
Meanwhile, Team GB were accused of an offense during the ninth end of their round-robin match against Germany on Sunday.
Bobby Lammie was accused of touching a stone after releasing it down the ice, with an umpire intervening.
The stone used by Lammie was removed from play, with the umpire instructing British skip Bruce Mouat to return a German stone to its previous position.