Marc Kennedy was hit with allegations of cheating (Image: Grab)
The Winter Olympics ‘cheating’ scandal surrounding Canada’s curling team has escalated with a Switzerland player making a fresh allegation on Saturday. Canada star Marc Kennedy found himself at the centre of a cheating storm after furiously hitting back at accusations from Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson in a dramatic and sweary clash.
However, now Switzerland’s Pablo Lachat-Couchepin has revealed he also reported Kennedy to the match umpire for wrongdoing. The Canadian faced allegations that he was repeatedly touching his stones after release by Sweden’s Eriksson on Friday – a violation once the rock is clear of the hog line. Clearly furious with the allegations, Kennedy launched an X-rated rant at his opponent during Canada’s game with Sweden on Friday, appearing shocked by Erikkson’s claims.
After gesturing towards himself, the 44-year-old said: “I haven’t done it once. You can f*** off,” before the Swedish curler replied: “I’ll show you a video after the game. I’ll show you a video where it’s two meters over the hog line.”
The saga around the Canadian team intensified further, with Switzerland now also accusing them of breaking the rules. Lachat-Couchepin went to team coach Glenn Howard during Saturday’s game between Switzerland and Canada, claiming to see a double tap during the fifth-end break from an opposing athlete. Speaking about the debacle after the match, the Swiss curler told the BBC after his country’s 9-5 victory: “Well, everyone talked about it yesterday about the double, potential double touching, and I think, I assume I saw one when the referee was right next to me.
“We received an email, saying ‘OK, we’re going to monitor it,’ and it’s nothing personally against Canada, because for me personally, it does nothing; they can do whatever they want, it doesn’t change the direction of the stone. But when you have a referee on the ice and the referee is here, and he is looking at it, then he should see it.
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Pablo Lachat-Couchepin has spoken about the incident (Image: Grab)
“This is what I was a bit annoyed about. I said to the chief umpire, if they send an email they [Canada] just have to follow the rules and follow what is said. It’s nothing personal against Marc Kennedy, he’s a fantastic player, a very fair play guy and I really admire him.
“I was a fan when I was a kid, it’s nothing against him. It’s just when you receive an email when you have to comply to the rules, then you have to follow it and this is why.”
Team GB’s Bruce Mouat has also given his opinion on the situation, suggesting that while Kennedy may not have meant anything by it, he hopes that all athletes stick to fair play. Speaking after the 7-4 win over Czechia, he explained: “Yeah, we do [regulate ourselves], we all know the rules and what is supposed to happen.
“Marc’s been around for a long time and he knows what’s happening. I think we all trust that fair play is a big thing in our sport and we just hope that everyone sticks to it.
“I’m sure Marc didn’t mean anything by it, he just got caught on TV doing it. It’s a tough situation but it’s out there now and should be regulated by everyone including the athletes.”
It comes as World Curling have now intervened as a result of the fiery incident, issuing a verbal warning to Kennedy for his language used during Friday’s game. A statement from the organisation read: “Following the Friday evening session, World Curling spoke with the Canadian officials to issue a verbal warning regarding the language used by a Canadian men’s player during the game.
“During that meeting it was made clear to those officials that further inappropriate behaviour, determined by rule R.19, would result in additional sanctions. Rule R.19 states: ‘Improper conduct, foul or offensive language, equipment abuse, or wilful damage on the part of any team member is prohibited. Any violation may result in suspension of the offending person(s) by the curling organisation having jurisdiction.'”
Ex-Team GB curler and BBC pundit Logan Gray also weighed in, saying: “He’s technically breaking two rules here – you’re not allowed to be touching the stone when you hit that green hog line and also after you touch the stone you’re not allowed to touch it with your feet, your hands or your brush to change the trajectory of the stone. But as Grant [Hardie] said, how much benefit is he actually getting from that? I agree with Grant that ‘cheating’ is a stretch.”
He added: “Well the World Curling Federation obviously put out the statement hoping that would be the end of it. They’re putting a lot of responsibility on the officials out there to not only watch it but to be able to enforce it. It is slightly concerning that it did allegedly happen (again) and it wasn’t acted upon.”
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