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Controversy in Olympic curling widened Sunday when Team Great Britain’s men’s team was hit with the same infraction that hurt the Canadians two days in a row.
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 stone removed for “double-touching”, but still ended up with a 9-4 win.
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Great Britain’s Bobby Lammie in action during the men’s curling round robin session against Germany, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
The issue first erupted on Friday night when the Swedish men’s team accused Canada of “double-touching”. A stone was then removed in the Canadian women’s match against Switzerland. Videos circulating on social media appeared to show both Canadian curlers committing the penalties. But both teams denied wrongdoing.
World Curling said from Saturday it would appoint two officials to move between the four curling matches during each round, but noted it was “not possible” to have referees stationed at each pig line – the line where the stones must be released by hand.
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Great Britain’s Bobby Lammie in action during the men’s curling round robin session against Germany, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. ( (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
On Sunday, World Curling said two referees, who previously actively monitored deliveries, will now monitor athletes’ deliveries only at the request of the competing teams.
Sweden’s Johanna Heldin, an alternate on the women’s team, was concerned that the pace of the game was disrupted with the extra surveillance.
“If they bring it in, I think it probably disrupts the speed of play,” said Johanna Heldin, the alternate for the Swedish women’s team. “We’ve always been a game that tries to play by the rules and have that high level of sportsmanship, so hopefully we can figure that out.”
American Tara Peterson expressed support for more replay.
“There are cases where an immediate replay would be huge,” she said.
Canada’s Marc Kennedy in action during the men’s curling round robin session against China, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
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Until Sunday, the allegations had been limited to Canadian curlers. But now British curlers have also become embroiled in the controversy.
