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The 2026 Winter Olympic has been hit by a high-profile “curling cheating” controversy, primarily involving the Canadian and Swedish teams and later extending to team GB.
The recent widely-circulating controversy rests on a technical infraction known as “double touching” the curling stone after its release.
On February 13, Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson accused Canada’s Marc Kennedy of double-touching during a men’s round-robin match.
According to Swedes, Kennedy broke the rules by touching the rock a second time after initially releasing it down the sheet of ice.
Kennedy responded, “If somebody said to you, ‘Hey, do you double-touch all the time?’ I honestly, in that split second of a moment, I couldn’t even tell you if I did or not.”
He then suggested the whole thing might have been “premeditated planning to try to catch us.”
Later in a match against Switzerland, an umpire accused Canadian’s women’s skip Rachel Homan of the “double-touching” infraction. As a result, her stone was removed, but Homan denied the claim.
The controversy later widened to team GB. On Sunday, Scottish curler Bobby Lammie came under spotlight for touching a stone after its initial release in the ninth end of Britain’s game against Germany. Later his stone was removed and Britain won 9-4.
What’s the rule set by World Curling?
According to rule, the stone must be clearly released from the hand before it reaches the hog line. Although the players can retouch the handle before the line, they are not allowed to touch the granite body of the stone during its forward motion.
Even World Curling issued a statement, “During forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play.”
In the case of any violation, the stone is considered burned and must be removed from the player forthwith.
According to World Curling, two officials have been designated to keep an eye on things. But, it is not possible to put an umpire at every hog line for every single game.
Why has the curling cheating controversy gone viral?
The controversy is making headlines across the various platforms as Canada is not considered as just another team, in fact, they are historic superpower of curling.
Having been a part of Canadian identity, such allegations against the Canadian top athletes gave a blowback to national pride.
Moreover, the recent scandal also highlights the gap between reel and reality. Most of the videos shared by fans and broadcasters showed the clear violation of the rules.
On the contrary, World Curling does not use video replay. Ice-umpires’ decisions based on their on-field supervision are considered final.
to replay. Decisions are made by on-ice umpires whose “eyesight is final.”
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