Thesport of curling, long celebrated for its spirit of fair play and self-governance, has been shaken by accusations of cheating, foul language, and controversial officiating at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
Following a weekend of intense drama involving Canada, Sweden, and Team GB, World Curling has been forced to implement emergency changes to its umpiring protocols to restore order to the competition.
The controversy began on Friday night during a heated match between Canada and Sweden. Canadian vice-skip Marc Kennedy became involved in a verbal altercation with his Swedish counterpart, Oskar Eriksson. The Swedes accused Kennedy of 'double-touching' his stones—a violation where a player releases the handle, but then touches the stone again to subtly correct its path.
Eriksson claimed during the match that he had video evidence of the infraction. True to his word, footage soon circulated on social media, seemingly confirming the error. This led toaccusations from the Canadian campof a 'sting operation', suggesting the Swedish team had pre-meditated the recording to catch them out. Kennedy was fined for swearing at Eriksson, but the result of the match stood because curling generally relies on players to call their own fouls.
In response to the viral clip and the allegations, World Curling took swift action on Saturday. They stationed additional umpires on the ice with specific instructions to monitor every stone delivery for double-touches. This heavy-handed approach immediately caused issues.
Rachel Homan, the skip of the Canadian women's team, had a crucial stone removed from play by an umpire during her match against Switzerland. Shortly after, Team GB's Bobby Lammie also had a stone disqualified for a similar infringement against Germany. In both cases, the touches appeared to be accidental—a lingering finger grazing the stone rather than a deliberate attempt to cheat.
The athletes were furious. Brad Jacobs, the skip of the Canadian men's team, described the removal of Homan's stone as 'despicable' and a 'tragedy'. Canadian coach Paul Webster criticised the move, arguing that untrained officials were making split-second decisions that altered the outcome of Olympic matches. 'We have untrained people doing things they've never done before,' Webster said. 'Now, we're trying to quickly fix things at an Olympics, and I think it's the wrong thing to do.'
Facing a revolt from the teams, World Curling held a meeting with representatives from the National Olympic Committees on Sunday. They admitted the new system was not working and announced an immediate update to the stonemonitoringprotocol.
Under the new rules, which came into effect on Sunday evening, umpires will no longer actively monitor every single delivery. Instead, they will remain available on the field of play but will only intervene at the specific request of a competing team. If a team suspects their opponents are cheating, they can request the umpires to monitor deliveries for a minimum of three ends (rounds).
This return to a player-driven system with umpire support has been welcomed by the athletes. 'I think they made a good decision,' said Kennedy, who was at the centre of the initial storm. 'If you think somebody is violating, you bring somebody out to take a look.'
Source: International Business Times UK
