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The Canadian men beat Great Britain for Olympic curling gold Saturday 9-6 after brushing aside allegations of cheating during the round-robin stage at the Cortina Games in Milan.
The chaos began on February 13 when Canada beat Sweden 8-6, and Canadian third Marc Kennedy and Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson got into it.
Eriksson had accused Kennedy of an illegal procedure known as double-touching stones after dropping them at the pig line. Kennedy responded with exclamations.
Both sides appealed to officials, but no results were changed.
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Gold medalists Brad Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert of Team Canada celebrate a victory in the men’s gold medal match against Great Britain at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium during the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, Feb. 21, 2026, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. (Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images)
The next day, the Canadians accused the Swedes of improperly filming Kennedy’s delivery. Team Sweden denied any inappropriate filming and claimed the video came from Swedish public television.
Members of Switzerland also accused the Canadians of double-touching, and similar accusations reached the women’s competition. (The Canadian women defeated the USA in the bronze medal game).
World Curling eventually concluded that “no violations were recorded” during the referees’ observations that followed the allegations.
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)
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“The referees of the game are located at the end of each sheet and cannot physically see any delivery violation,” World Curling said. “However, when delivery problems are brought to their attention, match umpires are positioned to observe the delivery at three ends.
“During this period of observation in the game on Friday night, no violations were recorded,” added the statement, noting that video replay is not used during games and a referee’s call is final.
However, Britain was also accused of cheating. Great Britain took on Germany in round-robin play when officials said Scottish curler Bobby Lammie touched a rock after dropping it down the ice. Great Britain had a rock removed for double-touching, but still ended up with a 9-4 win.
World Curling said, as a result of the allegations against Canada, it would appoint two officials to move between the four curling matches during each round, but noted that it was “not feasible” to have referees stationed at each pig line, the line where the stones must be released by hand.
Canada’s Ben Hebert, right, and Brad Jacobs celebrate becoming Olympic champions after defeating Great Britain in the men’s curling gold medal match at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo February 21, 2026. (Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images)
It was Canada’s fourth gold in men’s curling and its first since 2014, when it also beat Great Britain to complete three consecutive Olympic gold medals. It’s heartbreak again for Great Britain, who settled for silver four years ago.
