Canadian curler Marc Kennedy didn’t mince words when confronted by a Swedish opponent who accused his team of cheating at the Winter Olympics, telling him to ‘f**k off’.
While curling may appear less intense compared to other Winter Olympics sports like ski jumping or the skeleton, the competition can get heated, particularly between Canada and Sweden.
The two nations clashed in Italy on Friday (February 13) during the men’s round-robin curling match. Tensions escalated when Sweden’s team, led by Niklas Edin, accused the Canadian team of cheating by allegedly touching the stone after its release.
The match was paused as Sweden asked Olympic officials to keep an eye on the alleged double-touching by Canada. In response, Canada requested that officials also monitor the Swedish team.
The situation intensified when Kennedy, Canada’s third, encountered Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson. Eriksson claimed he could show video evidence of the alleged cheating.
“I haven’t done it once,” Kennedy retorted. “You can f**k off.”
Eriksson countered: “I’ll show you a video after the game. I’ll show you a video where it’s two metres over the hog line.”
Canada eventually emerged victorious with an 8-6 win. Kennedy seemed to downplay the incident, telling The Guardian: “It’s good. It’s sport. It’s the Olympics. Both teams are trying to win.”
However, he didn’t let the matter rest entirely, adding: “Oskar was accusing us of cheating. I didn’t like it. I’ve been curling professionally for 25 years.”
Curling officials monitor player contact with the stone using electronic handles designed for the Olympics.
If a player touches the stone past the ‘hog line’, the handle will illuminate red.
Kennedy highlighted this, stating: “There’s hog line devices on there. I don’t know. And he’s still accusing us of cheating. I didn’t like it. So I told him where to stick it. Because we’re the wrong team to do that to. So I don’t care.”
“He might have been upset that he was losing,” Kennedy added. “He might be upset that they’re 0-2, grasping for straws. I just told him again. I said I have a ton of respect for him as a player. I’ve never said a bad word about Oskar Eriksson. I don’t really know what he’s trying to get out of it. And yeah, onward. But I’m not going to stand there and take cheating lightly.”
Canada’s coach, Paul Webster, supported his player, asserting that Kennedy is ‘not a cheater’, according to the National Post.
Despite acknowledging the touch sensor, Eriksson maintained his accusation, claiming Kennedy was in contact with the stone, not just the handle.
Eriksson explained: “He asked who we thought was over the hog line and I pointed out who we thought was touching the rock. It was obviously not a red light, but some players are touching the rock according to us. And that’s not allowed … We told the officials. They came out and they misread the rules, sadly.
“Because they thought double touching any part of the rock is OK. And then they found out that was wrong. You can only touch the electronic part of the handle.”
However, Fredrik Lindberg, leader of the Swedish team, stated that the Swedish Olympic Committee ‘will not seek an investigation regarding the events during Friday’s game’.
In the aftermath of the exchange, World Curling issued a statement confirming that umpires were stationed at the hog line to observe the game, stating: “There were no hog line violations or retouches of the stone during the observation.”