Canada Accused Of Cheating At Winter Olympics As Wild Footage Emerges
Canada and Sweden were involved in a heated exchange at the Winter Olympics during the curling event.
A cheating storm ensued at the Winter Olympics, where one athlete told an opponent to "f*** off" in heated scenes in the curling event.
Earlier this week there was the bizarre admission of Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Laegreid, who revealed he had cheated on his girlfriend after bagging a bronze medal.
With the aftermath of that still lingering, further controversy from the Games occurred when Canada and Sweden squared off at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.
Canada won 8-6 in the men's round robin fixture on Friday night but the match was dominated by cheating accusations.
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Early into the game, proceedings came to a halt as Sweden claimed that Canada curlers were touching the stone after release.
They asked that officials closely monitor things, with Canada replicating the request. That set to the tone for a tense game and it heightened when the team's thirds, Marc Kennedy and Oskar Eriksson, got into it in the ninth round.
Eriksson claimed that Kennedy double-touched the stones. While 2023 rule book from the World Curling Federation clearly states that ‘a double touch by the person delivering the stone, prior the hog line at the delivering end, is not considered a violation’ - that touch happening inside the hog line is a different story.
At the showpiece, World Curling brought in electronic handles on the stones and they flash red if players continue to make contact beyond the hog line – where curlers are required to let go of the stone.
The handle of these stones have a touch sensor. When the accusation was made by Eriksson, Kennedy fumed in a tirade picked up on the live broadcast and said, “I haven’t done it once.You can f**k off.”
Eriksson said he would "show you a video where it’s two metres over the hog line"
Kennedy was still having none of it and added, “Come on, Oskar. Just f**k off.” Eriksson spoke to the judges and asked them if they "saw the touching" and asked, "is he allowed to do it or not?".
Umpires were located at the hog line to keep a close eye on deliveries for three ends and in a statement, World Curling said there were "no hog line violations or retouches of the stone during the observation".
Speaking on the controversy after the victory, Kennedy told reporters: “I have a ton of respect for Oskar Eriksson. He’s one of the best players to ever play. I just told him … I would never accuse you of cheating. I’ve been on tour for 25 years. He pulled a hog line official on us to make sure we weren’t double-touching. The hog line official was there for six ends, never said a thing, and he’s still talking about it in the ninth end.
“I don’t like being accused of cheating, so I told him what I thought of it. It’s good for sport guys, it gets heated out there, it’s a battle, we’ve played each other a million times.”
Eriksson clarified the complaint from himself and his teammates - feeling as though Kennedy was touching the stone and not the sensor in the handle.
He believes the officials "misread the rules".
“He asked who we thought was over the hog line and I pointed out who we thought was touching the rock,” Eriksson said, as per The Guardian.
“It was obviously not a red light, but some players are touching the rock according to us. And that’s not allowed ... We told the officials. They came out and they misread the rules, sadly."
Sweden's team leader Fredrik Lindberg has confirmed no investigation will be launched from his side.
Topics: Olympics
Josh Lawless