The Winter Olympics implemented a change to its curling monitoring system after Canada, the top nation in the sport, became engulfed in accusations of cheating.
Both Canada’s men’s and women’s teams have been accused of the same infraction: double-touching the curling stone after releasing it down the sheet of ice.
The incident began on Friday (February 13), when Team Sweden’s curler, Oskar Eriksson, claimed Canadian curler Marc Kennedy had double-touched the stone.
Cheating accusations against Canada’s curling squad have prompted the Olympics to change how the sport is monitored
Image credits: Andrew Milligan/Getty Images
“I haven’t done it once, you can f**k off. I don’t give a s**t,” Kennedy responded.
Canada ultimately won the match 8-6, and Kennedy received a verbal warning for using profane language.
A video that appeared to show a double-touch by the Canadian athlete later circulated on social media, taken by Swedish public broadcaster SVT.
Image credits: SVT
Just 24 hours later, Swiss curler Pablo Lachat-Couchepin was overheard during his country’s 9-5 win over Canada saying he had witnessed double-touching by the Canadians.
“I don’t want to focus too much on it, but he double-touched, and the referee saw it,” Lachat-Couchepin told his coach, as per the Toronto Star. Again, no action was taken.
On Saturday, an umpire intervened after acclaimed Canadian curler Rachel Homan seemingly committed the same infraction during the women’s game against Switzerland.
Team Canada athletes were accused of double-touching the curling stone past the boundary line
Image credits: SVT
The official stopped the match and removed the stone as Homan looked on in disbelief. She went on to lose the game 1-3 and called the decision “absurd.”
Amid the multiple double-touching allegations, World Curling instituted the use of two umpires to monitor deliveries near the initial boundary, known as the hog line.
However, it later noted that it was “not possible” to have umpires stationed at each of the hog lines during every game, so officials will only do so upon request of a particular team.
Image credits: SVT
“This change in protocol will see the two umpires who had previously been actively monitoring athlete deliveries remain available in the field of play, but will now only monitor athlete deliveries at the request of the competing teams,” the statement read.
“The umpires when requested will monitor deliveries for a minimum of three ends.”
World Curling said the change was decided after meeting “with representatives of the competing National Olympic Committees.”
The Olympics said two umpires would be available to monitor the hog lines upon request
Image credits: Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images
Team Canada’s Marc Kennedy later appeared to regret his expletive-laden response to the accusations following Saturday’s loss to Switzerland.
“My whole life I’ve been a little bit like that if my integrity gets questioned. We’re human out there. Lots of emotions,” Kennedy told CBC. “No question I could’ve handled it better, though.”
Increased surveillance of the matches resulted in a stone thrown by the British men’s team being removed for the same offense on Sunday.
During Britain’s round-robin game against Germany, officials said Scottish curler Bobby Lammie had touched a stone after releasing it down the ice.
Image credits: Andrew Milligan/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Canada accused Sweden of illegally filming its and other curling squads from a location where only Olympic Broadcasting Services is permitted to do so.
Kennedy claimed that “improper video” was taken of his alleged double-touch near the hog line by someone affiliated with Team Sweden “in a bid to influence the event,” as per Newsweek.
“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,” the Canadian curler said.
Canada’s Rachel Homan called it “absurd” that an umpire removed the stone she threw after she allegedly double-touched it
Image credits: Al Bello/Getty Images
“They actually had videos for the Italian team as well,” claimed Team Canada coach Paul Webster. “So they’ve got people up there videoing, and that whole thing was premeditated and planned.”
Unlike some sports that rely on video replays to review gameplay, World Curling reiterated that its umpires do not use this type of assistance.
Athletes are divided over whether this technology should be implemented, with some curlers arguing that it would disrupt the speed of play and others saying video replay is necessary in many instances.
Image credits: CBC News
Team Canada faced damaging accusations even before the Winter Games began.
In January, USA’s Katie Uhlaender, a five-time Winter Olympian in skeleton, accused the Canadian skeleton team of deliberately pulling four of its six athletes from a race to make it harder for rival athletes to qualify.
Canada’s skeleton team faced accusations of cheating before the Olympics began
Image credits: CBC News
However, after investigating the matter, the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) said federations are allowed “to withdraw athletes from competition at any time” and dismissed the complaints.
The recent curling controversy comes after a French ice dancing judge was accused of favoring their fellow nationals, Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron, to win a gold medal.
The French duo took home gold after narrowly beating the American pair, Madison Chock and Evan Bates.
Viewers pointed to alleged mistakes committed by the French, including being out of sync and Cizeron failing his twizzle sequence. Even Italian skater Marco Fabbri, who finished fourth, stated that Team USA “deserved” the top prize.
Image credits: Al Bello/Getty Images
Nine judges favored Chock and Bates, but a French judge reportedly scored Fournier and Cizeron nearly eight points higher than Team USA, resulting in their compatriots’ win.
Amid allegations of unfair judging, the International Skating Union (ISU) has defended the outcome of the ice dancing competition, insisting that “it is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges in any panel.”
The governing body also stressed that safeguards exist to prevent bias from affecting results. This is reportedly achieved by automatically discarding the highest and lowest scores for each element and program before the remaining marks are averaged.
“The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness,” it stated.
People reacted to the scandal, which one viewer dubbed “Curl-gate”
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