Winter Olympics: After allegations of cheating: Canada’s curler criticizes world association

Canada’s coach Paul Webster saw the need to catch up in the rules, but was also bothered by the timing. They are now trying to repair something quickly during the Olympics. “I think that’s the wrong approach.” In the first games since the adjustment there were frequent discussions and sanctions.

That’s how the curling trouble started

What had happened? During the game between Canada and Sweden last Friday, Kennedy clashed with Swede Oskar Eriksson because he accused him of irregularly touching the stone multiple times. “Who does that? Who? I haven’t done that once. Fuck off,” the Canadian replied, visibly annoyed.

The scene in question went viral on social media with alleged photo and video evidence purporting to show the cheating. Canada’s curling boss Nolan Thiessen said Kennedy’s wife was also insulted there. “This is just crap. These people are human beings and their families should be kept out of this.”

World Curling Association with roll backwards in monitoring rule

After the incident, the World Curling Association issued a “verbal warning because of the choice of words” against the Canadian. The association also referred to its regulations – and initially announced more detailed checks on the taxes. On Sunday, the world association weakened its new monitoring rule again: the two referees who had previously actively monitored the submissions should now only check the submissions at the request of the teams involved.

The rules for dispensing stones are clearly formulated, but in practice they have so far only been monitored selectively and rarely consistently.

Webster: We’re not in Saskatchewan, we’re at the Olympics

Webster sharply criticized the spontaneously introduced stronger monitoring of taxes. “None of the officials here have ever gone through this in a course,” he said. “We’re not at some curling tournament in Saskatchewan (Canadian province) trying something out. We’re at the Olympics.”