The curling controversy has carried over to the Winter Paralympics with chaos breaking out in Milan-Cortina before the Games have even gotten underway.
The sport was rocked by a cheating scandal during the Winter Olympics last month. Now, it has been thrust into the spotlight yet again, this time on the Paralympic stage.
Two of the curling stones for the Games have been stolen from the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, World Curling spokesperson Chris Hamilton confirmed via CBC.
The stones, which were part of the mixed doubles set used at the Olympics, are supposed to be used for the wheelchair mixed doubles event at the Paralympics.
Hamilton confirmed that authorities have launched an investigation into the theft. However, it is currently unclear how the stones, which were made from 42lbs of granite, were taken from the venue.
The controversy has not had any impact on the mixed doubles competition, which began on Wednesday.
The mixed doubles wheelchair curling comeptition began at the Winter Olympics this week
Two stones from the mixed doubles set have been stolen from the curling arena
The Milan-Cortina 2026 organizing committee confirmed that replacement stones had been resourced in time for the matches.
The spare stones from the mixed doubles set are now reportedly being used and have been brought to the same specifications as the rest of the set.
The Winter Paralympics are set to officially start with the Opening Ceremony on Friday. The mixed doubles curling competition began on Wednesday in order to fit in the many round-robin matches before the gold medal match on March 11.
The latest scandal comes after curling was thrust into controversy at the Olympics when furious Swedish star Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian curler Marc Kennedy of ‘double-touching’ his deliveries.
Kennedy responded to Eriksson’s mid-match accusations by exploding into an expletive rant, which earned him an official warning from World Curling for ‘inappropriate language.’
The 44-year-old Kennedy launched into a profanity-laden exchange with the Swede, furiously telling his opponent to ‘f*** off’ in a heated row on the sheet.
Several other accusations of double-touching followed Kennedy’s outburst, and Canada lost its next match against Switzerland before steadying itself to go all the way.
In response, curling’s higher-ups first stationed umpires at the hog line to check for future fouls, but then reverted to the traditional practice of players policing themselves.
Canadian curler Marc Kennedy was accused of ‘double-touching’ during the Winter Olympics
Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson (right) repeatedly accused his opponent Kennedy (left) of cheating
Kennedy releases a stone at the hog line – the point on the sheet where contact must cease
However, following the incident, Kennedy argued that he was set up by the Swedish team, whom 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 said.
‘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.’
Sweden responded by claiming that they had been raising concerns about Canada’s alleged cheating for seven or eight years.
