In the picturesque town of Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, a storm is brewing at the Winter Olympics. At its heart is Canadian curler Marc Kennedy, who finds himself embroiled in a heated controversy. Accusations have been levied against him, suggesting foul play on the ice, but Kennedy vehemently denies any wrongdoing, asserting that he is no cheat. He even hints that his team may be the unsuspecting target of a calculated move by Sweden, a fierce competitor gunning for the gold medal.
During a tense match against Sweden, where Canada emerged victorious with an 8-6 scoreline, tensions flared when Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Kennedy of “double-touching.” This term refers to the illegal act of touching the curling stone again after its initial release. In response, Kennedy admits that his reaction, notably laced with expletives, was not ideal. “I probably could have handled it better,” Kennedy concedes, reflecting on his outburst.
Despite the controversy, the 44-year-old Kennedy remains firm in his stance. He insists that he has never stepped onto the ice with the intention of gaining an unfair advantage through cheating. “I’ve never gone on the ice with the intention of getting an advantage through cheating,” he firmly states, defending his integrity as a sportsman.
The episode has been fueled by video footage that purportedly shows Kennedy’s infraction, with his finger making contact with the stone post-release. Addressing these allegations, Kennedy dismisses them, saying, “Yes, I’m not even going there. I’ve never even known that to be a concern before. It’s never ever come up in conversation.” He expresses uncertainty over whether such an action is part of his play, candidly admitting, “I couldn’t even tell you if I do or not.”
Intriguingly, Kennedy hints at a deeper conspiracy, suggesting that the incident might be the result of “premeditated planning to try to catch us.” Whether this theory holds water or not, the unfolding drama has certainly added an unexpected twist to the Olympic curling narrative.
He added that he has his own theory, suggesting the whole thing might have been “premeditated planning to try to catch us.”
“They’ve come up with a plan to catch teams in the act,” Kennedy said.
The saga has rocked the usually sedate world of curling and it involves two teams who play each other regularly outside the Olympics and are among the best players in the game.
Kennedy receiving a verbal warning from governing body World Curling a day after the feisty back-and-forth with the Swedish team when fingers were pointed and the Canadian player repeatedly swore. He has not been formally charged with cheating by World Curling, which does not use video to review game play.
The organization opted to deploy two officials to monitor how players released their stones during Saturday’s afternoon session in the men’s competition. In that session, Canada lost 9-5 to Switzerland and Sweden beat China 6-4.
Afterward, Eriksson said he “slept good, I’m not sure about him” – in reference to Kennedy – and said he chose that moment to call out Kennedy’s alleged rule-breaking because he’d seen it happen in the past. Eriksson said he has told officials in two previous events.
“We want to play a fair-and-square game, like you follow the rules,” Eriksson said. “And if we see something that’s not following the rules, we tell the opponents or the official. This time we did both.”
The allegations kept coming.
During its game against Canada, the Swiss men’s team alerted umpires mid-match to their suspicion that a member of the Canadian team was again double-tapping, Swiss coach Glenn Howard said.
Howard is Canadian, and a well-known and highly-acclaimed curler himself.
“My whole career, you’d be like, ‘Ah, that’s okay’” if there was a minor infraction, said Howell, who said he didn’t know what to make of this latest flare-up.
In the early ends of Friday’s match, Sweden skip Niklas Edin notified officials of their complaints about Kennedy. An official then remained at the hog line – the thick green line before which curlers must release the stone – for three ends to monitor Canada’s curlers and no violations were recorded, World Curling said Saturday.
The online footage that appears to show Kennedy double-tapping the stone prompted some curling fans to question how the video was taken and point out that cameras are not usually stationed at the hog line.
A staffer for Swedish public broadcaster SVT said the channel had gotten the footage because they had moved their camera to the hog line after Sweden raised concerns about the double tapping early in the match. The camera operator stayed there until he was able to capture Kennedy’s pitch in the eighth end. Eriksson said Swedish TV had showed him that footage.
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