Tensions flared during a round-robin curling match at the Winter Olympics on Friday as Canada's Brad Jacobs team defeated Sweden 8-6. Sweden alleged that their opponents were double touching the stone, leading to heated exchanges between players.
The game was halted early after Sweden claimed Canada's curlers were touching the stone after release. Canada responded by requesting officials monitor Sweden's deliveries, creating a frosty atmosphere. In the penultimate end, Sweden's Oskar Eriksson accused Canada's Marc Kennedy of repeatedly touching the stone, prompting Kennedy to respond with an expletive.
Kennedy later said: 'Oskar was accusing us of cheating. I didn't like it. I've been curling professionally for 25 years.' He noted that electronic handles on the stones, which flash red if contact is made beyond the hog line, did not indicate any violation. 'There's hog line devices on there. I don't know. And he's still accusing us of cheating. So I told him where to stick it.'
Eriksson argued that Kennedy was touching the stone itself, not the handle containing the sensor, so the lights did not flash. 'We told the officials. They came out and they misread the rules, sadly. Because they thought double touching any part of the rock is OK. And then they found out that was wrong.'
Swedish skip Niklas Edin expressed disappointment: 'It's just sad that it gets to heated discussions on the ice instead of just curling, according to the rulebooks.' World Curling stated that umpires monitored deliveries for three ends after the issue was raised and found no violations.
