The Canadian curler who told a Swedish rival to ‘f*** off’ in a furious cheating row on Friday has promised to clean up his language – but will release the ‘bulldog’ if he is faced with similar accusations again.
Marc Kennedy became embroiled in a stunning clash with Oskar Eriksson after repeatedly being accused by the Swede of double-touching his deliveries.
At one point in Canada’s 8-6 win, Kennedy erupted by shouting: ‘I haven’t done it once. You can f*** off.’
Kennedy has now doubled down, saying after Saturday’s 9-5 defeat by Switzerland: ‘I’ll be honest with you guys, my whole life, when my integrity has been questioned, sometimes that’s the response I have.
‘I can’t think of once in my entire career where I’ve done something to gain a competitive advantage by cheating. And I take that very seriously. And it’s been a really long career. So when you get called out, my instinct was to be a little bit of a bulldog.
‘I don’t regret defending myself or my teammates in that moment. I just probably regret the language I used.
Canada’s Marc Kennedy has opened up on his fury after Sweden accused him of cheating
The curler, 44, was talking after his team lost to Switzerland on Saturday at the Olympics
‘They (Sweden) have come up with a plan here at the Olympics, as far as I know, to catch teams in the act.
‘It was planned right from the word go yesterday, from the words that were being said by their coaches and the way they were running to the officials. It was kind of evident that something was going on, and they were trying to catch us in an act.
‘I know we’re not the only team that they’ve done that to.’
World Curling confirmed on Saturday that Kennedy had been issued with a verbal warning, with ‘further inappropriate behaviour’ likely to ‘result in additional sanctions’.
Bruce Mouat’s rink are second in the round robin after the Brits beat the Czech Republic 7-4 – their third win in four after Mouat’s disappointment in the mixed event earlier this week.
Sophie Jackson’s women’s team upset Canada 7-6 to get off the mark after two defeats.
