Canada’s men’s curling squad has found itself embroiled in controversy at the Winter Olympics after facing cheating allegations from multiple opponents in consecutive matches.
The turbulent start to their campaign began on Friday when Swedish player Oskar Eriksson claimed the Canadians had committed a double-touch violation during their encounter.
The accusation sparked a furious reaction from Canadian third Marc Kennedy, who launched into an expletive-laden tirade in response.
Kennedy shot back at his accuser: “I haven’t done it once, you can f*** off. I don’t give a s***.”
The heated confrontation marked the beginning of what has become a deeply troubled Olympic tournament for the Canadian side.
Double-touching occurs when a player makes contact with the stone’s handle after releasing it beyond the hog line, the boundary marking where the stone must be let go.
While curlers may touch the handle repeatedly before crossing this line, any contact afterwards constitutes an infraction.
Canada’s men’s curling squad has found itself embroiled in controversy at the Winter Olympics after facing cheating allegations from multiple opponents in consecutive matches
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Touching the granite portion of the stone is prohibited entirely once it begins moving forward.
Eriksson alleged Kennedy had violated precisely this rule during their Friday clash.
Despite the accusations, officials who monitored the match found no evidence of wrongdoing by the Canadian team.
Canada denied cheating in their curling match with Sweden at the Winter Olympics on Friday
| SVTCanada emerged victorious with an 8-6 scoreline, though Kennedy received a verbal warning for his choice of language during the altercation.
The following day brought fresh allegations when Switzerland faced the Canadians in their round-robin fixture on Saturday evening.
Swiss player Pablo Lachat-Couchepin was overheard informing a coach that he had witnessed the same infraction, claiming others had noticed it too.
He told the Toronto Star: “I don’t want to focus too much on it, but he double-touched, and the referee saw it.”
Whether Lachat-Couchepin formally raised his concerns with match officials remains unclear.
The Swiss delivered a commanding performance regardless, defeating Canada 9-5 to hand them their opening loss of the competition.
Canada lost to Switzerland in the curling at the Winter Olympics on Saturday
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In response to the mounting controversy, World Curling deployed two dedicated officials to patrol the four sheets and scrutinise deliveries throughout all matches.
Curling Canada issued a statement backing their athletes following the Swedish match, confirming that officials had closely observed play after the complaint was lodged.
The governing body stated: “After three ends of careful observation, no hog line violations or stone retouches were found by the officials.”
The statement added: “We want to reaffirm that Curling Canada fully supports fair play, respect and sportsmanship, values that are fundamental to our sport.”
Kennedy himself expressed regret over his outburst while standing firm on the substance of his defence.
He said: “You can’t take it back. You learn from it and move on and try to get the focus back on the curling. But I’ll be honest with you guys: my whole life, when my integrity has been questioned, sometimes that’s the response I have.”