Canadian curler Marc Kennedy has denied any wrongdoing after a cheating allegation from Sweden at the Winter Olympics, instead accusing the Swedish team of deliberately trying to catch teams in the act. The row erupted during Canada's 8-6 victory over Sweden on Friday night, when Sweden's Oskar Eriksson told Kennedy he was double-touching the stone on the penultimate end. Kennedy responded with an expletive, which led to a warning from World Curling about abusive language.
World Curling confirmed on Saturday that Canada had escaped punishment for the alleged rule breach, but introduced emergency spot checks to ensure teams were not cheating when releasing the stone. The governing body also sent an email to all teams reminding them that not using the electronic handle was illegal. Canada was warned that any repeat of bad language would result in sanctions.
Speaking after Canada's 9-5 loss to Switzerland on Saturday, Kennedy insisted he was innocent. 'I can't think of once in my entire career where I've done something to gain a competitive advantage by cheating,' he said. He said his instinct was to defend himself, but regretted the language he used. Curling Canada chief Nolan Thiessen said it was a poor choice of words but allowed for 'heat of the moment'.
World Curling introduced electronic handles on stones at these Games, which flash red if players are still touching the stone beyond the hog line. However, Sweden believed Kennedy was touching the stone itself, not the handle, so the lights did not flash. Replays appeared to back Eriksson, but officials did not intervene during the contest. Eriksson said: 'We told the officials. They came out and they misread the rules, sadly.' World Curling stated it does not use video replay to re-umpire game decisions and would not change the result.
Kennedy vented his anger, saying the Swedish team had 'come up with a plan here at the Olympics, as far as I know, to catch teams in the act at the hog line'. Eriksson hit back: 'I don't think he has slept too well, while I slept like a baby.' He said he was confident Kennedy had not followed the rules, having watched the video.
