Team US curler 'mocks' Canada amid Winter Olympics cheating row

A Team USA curler has appeared to mock Canada and Marc Kennedy after he was accused of 'cheating' during the Winter Olympics.

Kennedy, who plays as the third for Team Canada in the men's curling event, was accused of cheating during his side's round-robin match against Sweden on Friday.

During the second and third ends, a Swedish player confronted Team Canada, believing that Kennedy had tapped the stone with his index finger after releasing it.

Video replays had already shown that Kennedy had indeed tapped the stone after release, with Sweden captain Oskar Eriksson stating he would show his opponents the video evidence.

Team Switzerland subsequently accused Kennedy and Canada of the same offence during the match between the two nations on the following day. Kennedy has strongly denied both accusations of cheating.

World Curling issued a rule clarification on Saturday by re-iterating Rule R.5 (e), which 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."

Prior to the ball reaching the hog line - the visible green marker - curlers can retouch the handle, but are forbidden from touching any other part of the stone.

Following the controversies, two officials are now in place at all times during matches at the Winter Olympics, and will move between all four sheets of the ice to observe deliveries.

As part of the new stringent checks, Team GB's Bobby Lammie was punished after double-touching the stone during the 9-4 round-robin win over Germany on Sunday.

During Team USA's match against Germany, meanwhile, fans think lead Aidan Oldenburg appeared to mock Canada during one of his deliveries.

Oldenburg released the stone as normal, before applying a forward motion with his left index finger - without touching the stone - for effect, as if to poke fun at the new rules in place.

Team USA, who have so far not received any infractions related to the more stringent rule checks, have enjoyed a strong Winter Olympics in curling so far.

They beat home favourites Italy in the semi-final of the mixed doubles event, before narrowly being defeated 6-5 to Sweden in the final after losing the final end 2-0.

In the women's team event, the USA won four of their opening five round-robin matches over the weekend.

The men, meanwhile, are 4-2 after six matches.

It is already a better return than in Beijing 2022, when all of the three teams were unable to secure a medal of any colour.