World Curling has issued an statement regarding one of the most heated controversies at the Winter Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina, in which Sweden accused Canada of cheating during a men's curling game. It started on Friday, during a round robin match that ended 8-6, victory for Canada.
Players and members of Swedish team complained that Canadian curlers were cheating, touching the stone during delivery, a moment when curlers must let go. Tension got to a point where Canadian Marc Kennedy and Swede Oskar Eriksson heatedly argued, with the Canadian saying "fuck off" after Eriksson's accusations.
The World's governing body in curling published a statement on Saturday, where they explained the limitations of refereeing: "Game Umpires are situated at the end of each sheet and physically cannot see every delivery infraction (...) It is not possible for World Curling to have game umpires positioned to observe all hog lines for every stone delivery", although adding that no violations were recorded in the match.
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World Curling also reminds that it won't be possible to alter the match, responding to requests from media sharing a video that would prove the cheating by Kennedy and touched the stone. "World Curling does not currently use video replay to re-umpire game decisions. Decisions made during a game are final".
However, beginning with the Saturday afternoon session, there will be two officials moving between all four sheets and observing deliveries. Meanwhile, Kennedy was given a verbal warning for his language, although no additional sanctions will be given to the Canadian if he does not engage in further inappropriate behaviour.