Canada’s Winter Olympic curlers have been explicitly branded as ‘cheats’ by a Swedish newspaper – who even sent a photographer to try and prove their case.
Aftonbladet, a Swedish outlet, sent a photographer to try and capture images of Canada double-touching – a banned act – in their match against Czechia on Monday.
It follows a controversial row in the sport after Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson repeatedly accused opponent Canadian Marc Kennedy of cheating on Friday.
‘I haven’t done it once,’ Kennedy shouted in a wild outburst that was captured on the SVT broadcast. ‘You can f*** off.’ Team GB have since been punished for a similar violation after curler Bobby Lammie grazed the stone with his finger after releasing.
On Monday night, Aftonbladet published images from their photographer Pontus Orre which appear to show Canada’s captain Brad Jacobs touching the granite during forward motion.
Canada beat Czechia 8-2 – and Aftonbladet confronted Kennedy about the controversy afterwards.
A Swedish newspaper has openly accused Canada’s curling team of ‘cheating’ after sending a photographer to try and catch them out against Czechia (this is not their image)
Canadian star Marc Kennedy denied cheating as Aftonbladet tracked him down for a chat
‘I can guarantee that there is not a single double touch out there that is done intentionally to cheat. That’s all I can say,’ he said.
‘I have 50 videos of people who … I’ll go … But it’s okay, we’ve talked about this so much already. It’s a shame it came up during the Olympics. We’ve all had to deal with it now.
‘But all the teams have the right to call a referee now, so if the Czech Republic were not happy with something, they were more than welcome to call a referee and we could do the same. That’s how it should work.
‘This game of trying to catch people red-handed, and all to win a medal, sucks. Unfortunately. But it is what it is, the sport is developing and those in charge really need to take a good look at this.
‘It’s hard for me to use the word gentleman after this week. But we love the idea of self-government without the need for judges. That’s where I think curling is in a bad place right now and I think that comes from a thirst for medals.’
Asked if he is worried about curling’s reputation, Kennedy replied: ‘Yes, maybe. I haven’t thought about it that much, but there are probably some relationships that have been damaged by all this. Yes.
‘There are so many games in a year where you can’t have referees at the level we have here. So if we don’t have any of the soul of curling left, we’re in trouble. I don’t have the answers, but it will be interesting to see.’
The newspaper also tried to secure an interview with Jacobs but claim they were turned away by Canada’s press team.
This double-touching storm is not confined to the men’s game. It has crossed over into women’s curling, after Canada’s Rachel Homan had her stone removed when an official ruled that she had touched it again after releasing the handle.
Homan’s offence occurred after World Curling directed two umpires to move between the four matches during each round to monitor play.
Meanwhile, Team GB were accused of an offence during the ninth end of their round robin match against Germany on Sunday.
Lammie was accused of touching a stone after releasing it down the ice, with an umpire intervening.
The stone used by Lammie was removed from play, with the umpire instructing British skip Mouat to return a German stone back to its previous position.
Lammie had appeared surprised after being informed that he had made an offence. He did not argue with the decision.
‘The judge has burned a stone, it [the German stone] has been put back,’ said BBC commentator Steve Cram.
‘Not again,’ said co-commentator Jackie Lockhart, a former GB Olympic curler.
Canada’s Kennedy reacted furiously after being accused of double-touching on Friday
Swiss curler Pablo Lachat-Couchepin (right) alleged that he witnessed double-touching after Canada had previously been accused of the same offence by Sweden
One of the German curlers was heard asking the umpire whether a double touch had occurred.
‘The dark shadowy figures had come back down again and there is one down at the hog line,’ Cram continued.
‘If they are going to do that you need to be consistent. Not all the matches have one.’
Lockhart added: ‘I thought I heard the umpire say a double touch, but you can touch the handle as many times as you want before it hits the hog line.
‘But you can’t touch the granite of the stone, but I am not sure that is something Bobby would do.
‘The guys just have to park that, you can’t let that get to you. You have to play your shots.’
Cram and Lockhart would see the lighter side of the incident, which occurred with Britain leading 7-4 in the match.
‘The umpire is still standing there, he is like one of those scary statues in Doctor Who, he is still standing there stoically, beady eyed,’ Cram joked.
Despite having their stone removed, Team GB would ultimately score two in the end, with the two teams shaking hands to confirm a 9-4 win for Mouat’s team.
Having instructed two officials to be positioned to observe all deliveries from Saturday, after the controversy involving the Canadian team on Friday, World Curling issued updated guidance last night.
‘Following a meeting with representatives of the competing National Olympic Committees, an update in the stone monitoring protocol has been confirmed, beginning with the evening session on Sunday 15 February,’ a World Curling statement said.
‘This change in protocol will see the two umpires who had previously been actively monitoring athlete deliveries remain available in the field of play, but will now only monitor athlete deliveries at the request of the competing teams.
‘The umpires when requested will monitor deliveries for a minimum of three ends.’
