Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson might have concluded his Winter Olympics journey, but his ongoing dispute with Canadian rival Marc Kennedy remains unresolved.
The tension between Eriksson and Kennedy escalated into one of the Games’ most notable controversies in Milan-Cortina. The drama unfolded during a preliminary match between Sweden and Canada, where accusations of cheating emerged.
At the heart of the scandal, Eriksson, aged 34, accused Kennedy of committing a double-touch by contacting the rock again after its initial release on the ice. This allegation provoked a fiery reaction from Kennedy.
The 44-year-old Canadian retaliated with a heated, expletive-laden exchange, telling Eriksson to “f*** off” in a moment of intense confrontation. Subsequently, Kennedy received a verbal reprimand from World Curling for his use of inappropriate language.
As Canada gears up to compete against Great Britain for the gold medal on Friday evening, Eriksson has reignited his criticism of Kennedy.
Despite Sweden’s exit from the semifinals, Eriksson remains vocal about the incident, expressing dissatisfaction with Kennedy’s failure to apologize for his outburst.
Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson has refused to let go of his feud with his Canadian rival
Eriksson (right) repeatedly accused his Canadian opponent, Marc Kennedy (left), of cheating
‘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.’
Following the on-ice row, Kennedy argued that he was set up by the Swedish team, who he claimed had concocted a plan to catch him in the act.
‘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 claimed following the incident 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.’
Kennedy and Canadian coach Paul Webster accused Sweden of installing cameras to catch them cheating.
‘I know we’re not the only team that they’ve done that to,’ Kennedy continued. ‘So I think this was, I don’t know what the word is for that, but like a premeditated plan to try to catch us.’
But Eriksson has fired back once again, accusing his opponent of ‘hypocrisy’ as he detailed his version of events.
Despite the controversy, the Canadian team reached the gold medal match in Cortina
Eriksson has taken issue with the lack of apology from Kennedy over his outburst
‘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. 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,’ Eriksson told the Swedish newspaper.
Kennedy, competing at his fourth Winter Olympics, and Canada received a warning from World Curling on Saturday morning after Kennedy took huge offense at being accused of cheating by Sweden’s Eriksson.
The Swede accused Kennedy of ‘double touching’ multiple times throughout Canada’s 8-6 win.
Television replays showed why Eriksson might have thought something was up, but referees concluded that no rules had been broken by Kennedy.
‘I haven’t done it once,’ the Canadian shouted across the sheet at Eriksson, amid his furious outburst that was captured on the SVT broadcast. ‘You can f*** off.’
‘I’ll show you a video after the game,’ Eriksson responded. ‘I’ll show you a video where it’s two meters over the hog line.’
‘Come on, Oskar. Just f*** off,’ Kennedy fired back.
The double-touching storm has not been confined to the men’s game. It has crossed over into women’s curling, with Canada once again caught up in the controversy.
Kennedy releases a stone at the hog line – the point on the sheet where contact must cease
The Canadian, 44, reacted furiously after being accused of double-touching on Friday
Canada’s Rachel Homan had her stone removed when an official ruled that she had touched it again after releasing the handle.
Homan’s offense occurred after World Curling directed two umpires to move between the four matches during each round to monitor play.
Meanwhile, Team GB were accused of an offense during the ninth end of their round-robin match against Germany on Sunday.
Bobby Lammie was accused of touching a stone after releasing it down the ice, with an umpire intervening.
The stone used by Lammie was removed from play, with the umpire instructing British skip Bruce Mouat to return a German stone to its previous position.
