On Saturday, Feb. 14 morning World Curling sent a email to all the nations competing at the Olympics clarifying “proper release” of the stone after an alleged cheating scandal erupted.
Just a day prior, Marc Kennedy of Canada was accused of double-touching the stone when it should have been off limits by Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson. Kennedy suggested Eriksson was just mad he was losing.
“He might have been upset that he was losing,” Kennedy said. “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 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.”
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The Canadian didn’t take kindly to being called a cheater and responded with offensive language that landed him a verbal warning from World Curling.
“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,” the organization said in a statement on Saturday. “During that meeting it was made clear to those officials that further inappropriate behavior, determined by rule R.19 would result in additional sanctions.”
After a verbal warning to all athletes and a rules refresher, the Olympics decided to take at least some action when it comes to future potential infractions.
“It is not possible for World Curling to have game umpires positioned to observe all hog lines for every stone delivery. However, beginning with the Saturday afternoon session, two officials will move between all four sheets and observe deliveries,” World Curling announced before Saturday’s sessions.
Back on the ice for the Saturday session, Kennedy and the Canadians fell 9-5 to Switzerland.
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