Olympic 'cheating' scandal ramps up as Team Canada call out World Curling

As the biggest scandal at this year's Winter Olympics continues to spark debate, a coach from Team Canada has responded to World Curling over their decision to make a protocol change mid-competition.

Team Canada went viral on Friday evening, when Marc Kennedy told Sweden's Oskar Eriksson to "f**k off" after he was accused of cheating by double-touching the stone following his initial release.

The next day, Canadian women's captain Rachel Holman was accused of using the same move. In fact, Kennedy himself has been at the centre of two cheating claims during two different matches in Milan-Cortina.

Canada has strongly denied accusations of cheating.

In the aftermath of the controversy on Friday, World Curling clarified that double-touching was not allowed and confirmed that two officials would move between the four curling matches during each round going forward.

Marc Kennedy of Team Canada competes in the Round Robin match between Team Canada and Team USA. Image credit: Getty

However, the organisation later adjusted the protocol, saying that athletes will only be monitored at the teams' request.

A statement from World Curling read: "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.

"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."

It added: "The umpires, when requested, will monitor deliveries for a minimum of three ends."

Team Canada coach Paul Webster has now responded to the protocol change with a defiant message.

“If you listen to what Sweden said, I think they're right," he told The Grand Slam of Curling.

"This has been a problem that they've tried to identify to our international federation, and it wasn't acted on. Now, we're trying to quickly fix things at an Olympics, and I think it's the wrong thing to do.

“We have untrained people doing things they’ve never done before, and we’re not at some bonspiel (curling tournament) in Saskatchewan just trying things out. We’re at the Olympics.

“I have a lot of respect for people who are here and volunteering their time, but I think we really have to question if we’re doing new things at the Olympic Games. We’ve had four years to prepare."

Canada's Olympic curling team pictured. Image credit: Getty

Webster added: "Our teams, all the 20 teams here, have done a really good job preparing for these Olympic Games. I would like our international federation to match that effort.”