World Curling has spoken out following the controversial allegations of cheating during the match between Canada and Sweden at the Winter Olympic Games.
The 2026 Winter Olympics are currently underway across Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, with more than 90 countries represented by around 2,900 athletes across 16 days.
To the surprise of many, curling is the sport that has blown up in popularity this year, with many tuning in to follow the tense matches.
However, the sport was thrown into disarray on Friday night after Canada's men's team were accused by opponents Sweden of cheating during their round robin fixture.
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And now, World Curling has been forced to directly address the situation in a statement released online.
Tensions in the curling match between Canada and Sweden were high from the very start after proceedings were halted as Sweden claimed that their opponents were touching the stone after release.
They asked that officials closely monitor things, but the issue continued to bug Sweden's Oskar Eriksson who accused Marc Kennedy of double-touching the stones.
Kennedy was furious at the accusation, telling his opponent to 'f*** off' before adding that he would be eager to review the footage of his actions post-match.
And now, World Curling have spoken out to clarify the rule regarding player double-touching stones, seemingly standing by Kennedy and Canada as any potential second touches were before the stone had crossed the hog line.
The statement read: "Following the situations arising from the Sweden versus Canada game in men’s session four on Friday (13 February) evening, several issues require clarification.
"Game Umpires are situated at the end of each sheet and physically cannot see every delivery infraction. However, when they are made aware of delivery issues, game umpires are positioned to observe the delivery for three ends.
"During this period of observation in the Friday evening game, there were no violations recorded.
When delivering a stone, before the hog line players can retouch the handle as many times as they wish.
"However, touching the handle after the hog line is not allowed and will result in a the stone being removed from play as per Rule R.5 (e) that states: “A stone must be clearly released from the hand before it reaches the hog line at the delivery end. If the player fails to do so, the stone is immediately removed from play by the delivering team.”
Despite clarifying that Canada's controversial methods were within the rules, the governing body added that starting on Saturday afternoon, there would be two officials that would move between all four sheets to observe deliveries going forward.
The statement also confirmed that Canada was given a verbal warning about the language used by Kennedy during the game.
Should Kennedy, or other Canadian players, continue with the 'inappropriate behaviour', World Curling confirmed that it would hand out additional sanctions.
Rule R.19 states: “Improper conduct, foul or offensive language, equipment abuse, or wilful damage on the part of any team member is prohibited. Any violation may result in suspension of the offending person(s) by the curling organisation having jurisdiction.”
Ben McCrum