Winter Olympics star reveals what happened in village after heated curling row
The curling cheating scandal was the biggest controversy of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
Ben McCrum
Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson has revealed what happened when he saw Canadian rival Marc Kennedy in the Olympic village.
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games in in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, has been perhaps the the most popular iteration of the multi-sport event yet, with millions watching across the globe.
On Sunday evening, the Winter Olympics will come to an end following the closing ceremony at Verona Arena, following weeks of exciting events and plenty of drama.
Undoubtedly the most dramatic scandal to come out of the 2026 Games came during the men's curling event, as Sweden's Eriksson accused Canada's Kennedy of cheating during their round robin match.
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The accusations led to serious tensions during the match, and it appears that these feelings continued when the pair later bumped into each other in the Olympic Village.
During their preliminary-round match last week, Eriksson regularly accused Kennedy of double-touching his curling stone, eventually leading to the Canadian blowing up in response.
Replying to his rival, Kennedy told the Swede to 'f*** off' while asserting that he had not cheated and that he'd be happy to review the footage.
World Curling was forced to release a statement following the incident, criticising Kennedy's language but assuring fans that he had not cheated.
Despite this, Eriksson has continued to hit out at Canadian curling in the media, claiming in a recent interview that Kennedy's behaviour towards him since the match proves his guilt.
"You don't react like that if you know you're not guilty. I don't think he slept as well that night as I did. If he now chooses to think he did the right thing, he will have to take responsibility for it," he told Swedish outlet Värmlands Folkblad.
He continued: "He hasn't dared to look in my direction. He's probably ashamed. Mature for a 44-year-old father of two."
Since the incident, Kennedy has hit back at Eriksson, claiming that the Swedish team arrived at the Games with a plan to try to get Canada in trouble for cheating.
"They have come up with a plan here at the Olympics, as far as I know, to catch teams in the act at the hog line," Kennedy told reporters over the weekend.
"This was planned... it was kind of evident that something was going on, and they were trying to catch us in an act."
But Eriksson argues that Kennedy's claims are hypocritical and that he's simply lashing out at Sweden for finally calling him out on his actions.
"He got furious at that person (who accused him) and shouted that he had lost respect for him and thought he had been hung out to dry," Eriksson told the Swedish newspaper.
The Swede added: "He said the same thing then as now, that he had filmed a lot of opponents - but still thought that it was unsportsmanlike if someone filmed him. The double standard in that doesn't work,' -
The Sweden men's curling campaign came to an end after their 10-4 loss to Czechia in the final preliminary round on Thursday morning.
Meanwhile Canada will face Team GB in for the gold medal on Saturday evening in Cortina.