Accusations of cheating among Olympic Curlers have now landed on Team Great Britain as the usually sedate sport of curling erupts in continued rounds of finger-pointing.
Team Great Britain is the latest Olympic curling team to face charges of improper play on Sunday when Scottish curler Bobby Lammie had a stone disallowed by officials. However, the incident didn’t stop the UK from beating Germany 9-4.
The Brits accepted the officials’ decision without protest, which is a bit different from the reactions of some of the teams accused of cheating last week.
The controversies began last week when Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson claimed he saw the Canadians double-touch the stone after it passed the Hog Line, which is a violation of play.
In response, Canadian third Marc Kennedy erupted in an expletive-laden rant denying the accusation.
“I haven’t done it once, you can fuck off. I don’t give a shit,” Kennedy exploded during last Friday’s match.
Olympic curling officials warned Kennedy for his outburst. However, the officials also decided Team Canada did not violate any rules.
The very next day, Team Canada was accused of the same violation when Swiss curler Pablo Lachat-Couchepin told his coach he had seen the Canadians double-touch the stone again.
Team Canada’s Kennedy was a bit less rambunctious in his reply to the second accusation of cheating.
“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.”
Not to be outdone, Canada’s women’s Olympic curling team was also accused of cheating.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: Facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston, or at X/Twitter @WTHuston
