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Canada’s curling team has fired back at Sweden after the Swedes accused the Canadians of cheating at the Winter Olympics.
After Sweden on Friday accused Canada of double-touching stones, igniting a global controversy, Canadian curler Marc Kennedy made accusations against the Swedes for improperly filming his delivery.
“They’ve come up with a plan here at the Olympics, as far as I know, to catch teams red-handed,” Kennedy told reporters.
“This was planned from the very beginning yesterday. From the words spoken by their coaches and the way they ran to the refs, it was kind of obvious that something was going on and they were trying to catch us in the act.
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Sweden’s Rasmus Wranaa, left, reacts next to Canada’s Ben Hebert during a men’s curling round-robin between Canada and Sweden during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo February 13, 2026. (Tiziana Fabi/AFP)
“I know we’re not the only team they’ve done that to,” Kennedy added. “So I think it was—I don’t know what the word is for it—but like a premeditated plan to try to trap us.”
Curling Canada’s executive director, Nolan Thiessen, told reporters he believes video was shot outside of the strict rules for Olympic filming.
“I was surprised that there was live video on the pig line outside the OBS rules,” Thiessen said. “It seems strange to me.”
Pakinomist Digital has reached out to Sweden’s curling team for comment.
According to National Review, Team Sweden denied any inappropriate filming and claimed that the video came from the Swedish public television station.
Sweden’s Niklas Edin said “absolutely not” when asked about the allegations made by Team Canada.
“We’ve been saying this for maybe seven, eight years or something,” he said of the hog line issue. “The media team decided to put the camera on the pig line to see what happened, to explain it to people watching.
“It was the Swedish media, the people covering the game, who did it, we were told anyway. I have no idea, but we were told afterwards.”
Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) issued a statement saying it did not produce the video that appears to show Canadian curlers double-touching stones after releasing them on the pig line that has been circulating on social media.
OBS added: “However, to clarify the general framework, OBS, as well as any duly accredited media rights holder who has acquired broadcast rights from the International Olympic Committee, is permitted to film within Olympic venues.”
The feud came to a boil during Friday’s game when Kennedy and Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson got into it after Eriksson accused Kennedy of an illegal procedure called double-touching.
Kennedy yelled at Eriksson, “I haven’t done it once. You can f— off.”
Eriksson replied: “I’ll show you a video after the game. I’ll show you a video where it’s two meters above the pig line.”
Both sides appealed to the officials but no results were changed.
Swiss curlers have made similar comments about Canada. Swiss curler Pablo Lachat-Couchepin was caught on air talking to his coach during a break in the fifth end, where he mentioned witnessing a double touch.
WORLD CURLING FINDS NO VIOLATION AFTER CHEATING ALLEGATIONS ROCK CANADA-SWEDEN CURLING MATCH
Canada’s Ben Hebert, Brett Gallant and Marc Kennedy compete during a men’s curling round-robin match against Switzerland at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on February 14, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
“I don’t want to focus too much on it, but he double touched and the referee saw it,” he said, according to The Toronto Star. It was unclear whether those concerns were raised with officials.
The dispute even bled over to the women’s side on Saturday.
Canadian curler Rachel Homan had her rock removed after an official decided she had touched it again after letting go of the handle. Homan protested, but according to World Curling rules, there are no official replays and the official’s final call stands.
According to The athletic, Video replay of the incident showed Homan’s finger grazing the rock.
World Curling has released a statement addressing the allegations Sweden first made on Friday and Kennedy’s subsequent response.
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Canada’s Brad Jacobs and Marc Kennedy in action during the men’s curling round-robin session against Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on February 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
“The game umpires are positioned at the end of each sheet and cannot physically see any delivery infringements. However, when delivery problems are brought to their attention, the match umpires are positioned to observe the delivery at three ends. During this period of observation in Friday night’s match, no infringements were recorded,” the statement said.
The sports governing body also addressed two rules issues, including “double touching” and touching the granite. According to the rules, players can retouch the handle multiple times, but “touching the handle after the pig line is not allowed and will result in the stone being removed from play.”
Additionally, if the stone’s granite is touched at all during “forward movement”, the stone will be removed from play.
As a result of the allegations, World Curling said two officials will be positioned to observe all deliveries beginning with Saturday’s matches.
