Sweden accused a Canadian of repeatedly touching the stone – an illegal move which caused a furious expletive-filled rant from Canada
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Tensions boiled over in the curling on Friday after accusations from Sweden that Canada's curlers were 'double touching' – an illegal move in the sport.
Disagreements began early, with the game halted over concern from the Swedes that the Canadians were double touching the stone – when players release the handle at the appropriate time, but then giving the stone another little prod with their finger to correct its course.
Sweden's skip Niklas Edin raised it with the officials between the second and third ends, asking officials to keep an eye out for further incidents.
"You saw it. You saw the touching, right?" his Swedish teammate, Oskar Eriksson, asked the judge.
"So is he allowed to do it or not? That's the question."
Captain Niklas Edin appeared in agreement, muttering: "There's no way you can do that."
In response to the accusations against them, Canada also requested officials watch the Swedish players closely, establishing a frosty atmosphere between the teams.
The tension between teams soon erupted into anger in the final end, after players began swearing at each other across the sheet.
Eriksson told Kennedy, a Canadian, that he would show him a replay of him touching the stone repeatedly – to which Kennedy responded by repeatedly shouting at his counterpart to “f*** off”.
"I haven't done it once,' the Canadian yelled.
"Come on, Oskar [Eriksson]. Just f*** off."
His furious outburst was captured on the TV broadcast, with the match having to be paused as both teams appealed to the officials.
Asked about the exchange afterwards, Kennedy dismissed the tension, saying it was all part of the competitive nature of the sport.
"Both teams are trying to win. Oskar was accusing us of cheating. I didn’t like it. I’ve been curling professionally for 25 years.
"So I told him [Eriksson] where to stick it. He might have been upset that he was losing…"
For the games, World Curling introduced electronic handles on the stones.
The stones interact with a magnetic strip embedded in the ice, to ensure players release their grip on the handle before the 'hog line' – the thick green line in the ice at which curlers must let go of the stone.
The sensor flashes green if they let go in time, and red if not.
Although Kennedy's stone showed green, the Swedes thought they saw the Canadian give the stone an extra push with his finger after letting the handle go – an accusation that appears to be supported by video evidence.
In a statement, World Curling said umpires had been monitoring the hog line to monitor deliveries after the issue was raised.
“There were no hog line violations or retouches of the stone during the observation,” their statement concluded.
Despite the dispute, Canada went on to win 8-6.
The result left the 2022 gold medal-winning Swedish team still without a win in their first three games – after losing to Great Britain and Italy in previous games.
