Winter Olympics cheating row takes new twist as statement released after BBC apology

After Canada and Sweden played out a fiery and controversial battle in the curling, a statement has been released on the matter

The Canadians were accused of cheating in the curling (Image: BBC)

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World Curling has revealed the Canadian curling team have received a warning for their foul-mouthed argument with Sweden in the Winter Olympics. Marc Kennedy of team Canada was heard telling Swedish star Oskar Eriksson to “f*** off” live on TV, when he was accused of touching his stone after it had crossed the ‘hog line’, something that’s forbidden in the icy sport.

The two teams continued to exchange colourful language throughout the contest, which ended with Canada winning 8-6. All players in curling are mic’d up, meaning every uncouth word was audible to those watching on TV. As a result, the BBC were forced to apologise to viewers, with the match taking place before the watershed. After the match, World Curling, evidently disgusted with what they heard, released a statement revealing the Canadian team have veen warned of their conduct, while also clarifying matters about the use of technology in the contest and the rules regarding ‘double touching’.

The governing body said: “Following the Friday evening session, World Curling spoke with the Canadian officials to issue a verbal warning regarding the language used by a Canadian men’s player during the game.

“During that meeting it was made clear to those officials that further inappropriate behaviour, determined by rule R.19, would result in 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.’”

The Swedish players were particularly unhappy with what they felt was deliberate double-touching from the Canadian players, particularly from Kennedy. Despite slow motion video footage providing a decent view of players releasing the stone before the hog line, World Curling made it clear retrospective video footage is not used and that the judge’s call is final.

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They said: “World Curling does not currently use video replay to re-umpire game decisions. Decisions made during a game are final. 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 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.’”