Team GB are dragged into Winter Olympics curling ‘cheating’ scandal as UK pair are caught in wake of Canadian double-touching storm
The Great Britain team’s curlers were accused of breaking the rules by the sport’s referees at the Winter Olympics, with Bruce Mouat’s team penalized on Sunday for ‘double tapping’, the same offense that sparked Canada’s ‘cheating’ storm.
The curling competition at the Winter Olympics was marred by controversy on Friday after a bitter dispute broke out between Canada and Sweden over allegations of double tapping on the ice.
Swede Oskar Eriksson repeatedly accused opponent Marc Kennedy of cheating and claimed he touched a stone again after leaving it on the ice, prompting an angry reaction from the Canadian.
“I’ve never done that once,” Kennedy shouted in a wild outburst recorded on the SVT broadcast. ‘You can fuck off.’ The Great Britain team were penalized for a similar offense after curler Bobby Lammie grazed the stone with his finger after releasing it – but to a very different reaction.
The double-tap controversy spilled over into women’s curling after Canada’s Rachel Homan removed her stone after an official ruled that she had touched the stone again after letting go of its handle.
Homan’s offense occurred after World Curling directed two referees to move between four matches per round to monitor play.
Team GB’s Bobby Lammie was ruled to have touched a rock after a hog-line, the latest incident in the ‘double touch’ curling debate
Lammie looked surprised after GB’s scrum was stopped by the referees
Team GB were instructed to replace a German piece that had been taken out of play by Lammie’s delivery
Team GB became the latest team to be accused of an offense in the ninth end of their round-robin match against Germany on Sunday.
Lammie was accused of touching a stone after a referee intervened and left him on the ice.
The piece used by Lammie was removed from play when the referee instructed the English jumper Mouat to return a German piece to its previous position.
Lammie appeared surprised when he was informed of his offending. He did not object to the decision.
‘The judge burned a stone, [the German stone] BBC commentator Steve Cram said it had been “put back”.
‘Not again,’ said co-commentator Jackie Lockhart, a former Great Britain Olympic curler.
One of the German curlers was heard asking the referee if there was a double touch.
“The dark, shadowy figures had come down again, and there’s one down near the hog line,” Cram continued.
The German piece was replaced and BBC commentators Steve Cram and Jackie Lockhart expressed surprise at the latest incident detected by the curling umpires.
Canada’s curling team was accused of double tapping on Friday, while the team was accused of cheating by its opponents.
Swiss curler Pablo Lachat-Couchepin (right) claims he witnessed double tapping after Canada was previously accused of the same crime by Sweden
Canada’s Marc Kennedy reacts angrily after being accused of double-tapping on Friday
‘If they’re going to do this you need to be consistent. Not all matches have one.’
Lockhart added: ‘I thought I heard the referee say double touch, but you can touch the ball as many times as you want before it hits the handle.
‘But you can’t touch the granite of the stone, but I’m not sure that’s something Bobby would do.
‘The guys need to park it, you can’t let that affect you. You’ve got to play your shots.’
Cram and Lockhart would see the lighter side of the incident with Britain leading the match 7-4.
“The referee is still standing there, like one of those scary statues from Doctor Who, still standing there stoic, beady-eyed,” Cram joked.
Despite having their pieces removed, Team GB would eventually score two points and the two teams would shake hands to confirm a 9-4 win for Mouat’s team.
World Curling, which ordered two officials to be assigned to monitor all deliveries from Saturday following the controversy over the Canadian team on Friday, issued updated guidance last night.
‘Following a meeting with representatives of the rival National Olympic Committees, an update to the stone tracking protocol was approved to begin in the evening session on Sunday 15 February,’ the World Curling statement said.
‘This change in protocol will ensure that two referees who previously actively monitored athletes’ deliveries will remain present on the field of play, but will now only supervise athletes’ deliveries at the request of opposing teams.
‘Umpires will monitor deliveries at at least three ends when requested.’
Currently, the GB team sits third in the men’s tournament standings with four wins and two losses, while the top four teams have advanced to the semi-finals.
Canada, which is at the center of the debate, is currently in second place.
