A heated row erupted during the men’s curling at the Winter Olympics after Sweden accused Canada of cheating during their defeat.
Canada beat Sweden 8-6 at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium on Friday but Marc Kennedy angrily hit back at Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson after he was accused of breaking the rules.
Eriksson complained that Kennedy and other members of the Canadian team had double-touched the stone when releasing.
A second touch by the person delivering the stone before the hog line is not a violation, but a second touch is not permitted if the stone is inside the line.
Kennedy was furious with the accusation and television cameras caught his bust-up with Eriksson after the Swede had complained to officials.
‘Apparently it’s alright touching the rock after the hog line,’ Eriksson said to Kennedy.
‘Who?’ Kennedy asked.
‘It’s a couple,’ Eriksson replied.
Kennedy then hit back: ‘I haven’t done it once, you can f*** off.’
‘You haven’t done it once?’ Eriksson asked.
‘I haven’t done it once,’ Kennedy replied.
‘Okay, I’ll show you a video after the game,’ Eriksson said.
‘How about you walking around my peel and dancing around the house? How about that? C’mon Oskar, just f*** off,’ Kennedy said as he turned away towards his team.
‘Do you want me to show you the video?’ Eriksson asked again.
‘I don’t give a s***. They were standing here and didn’t call it,’ Kennedy said.
Speaking after Sweden’s defeat, Eriksson said: ‘It’s sad that it happens like this. We have tried to prevent them from hitting the stone, in our opinion, after the hogline. It is not allowed to hit any part other than the handle
‘The head referee didn’t know the rule book and we had to correct them. Then the referees didn’t dare do anything.’
Meanwhile, Kennedy claimed Eriksson was ‘upset’ because Sweden were losing during the match.
‘I don’t like being accused of cheating after 25 years on tour and four Olympic Games,’ said Kennedy.
‘He [Eriksson] pulled a hogline official on us to make sure we weren’t double touching. The hogline official was there for six ends, never said a thing.
‘He’s still accusing us of cheating, and 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.’
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