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Milan: Accused of cheating in a game against Sweden that escalated into profanity and confrontation, Canada’s Curling team has shrugged off one of the Winter Olympics’ most contentious episodes to win gold.
The Canadians finally triumphed in a tight contest with Great Britain, 9-6, in a gold medal game in Cortina D’Ampezzo that ended a tournament destined to be remembered as much for the cheating allegation – and an un-Curling like verbal stoush that ensued – as the gold.
Curling gold medallists Brad Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert, of Team Canada, celebrate victory with coach Paul Webster.Credit: Getty Images
Not that the Canadian team view their victory in that way.
The allegation came in the preliminary rounds when the Canadians defeated Sweden 8-6. Swede Oskar Eriksson accused Canada’s four-Games veteran Marc Kennedy of touching the stone – the circular object that the Curlers release, as if 10-pin bowling in slow-motion – illegally.
Kennedy’s response was fierce, denying that he had double-touched the stone before what is termed “the hog line” and, for good measure, he informed the Swede “you can f— off” as the conflict ratcheted up.
World Curling issued a warning to Kennedy, 44, and Canada’s deputy skipper for his profanity, but did not find that he had cheated.
The Canadians with their medals.Credit: Getty Images
The umpires said they had not seen the alleged double-touch the Swedes had highlighted.
Kennedy defied the cheating cloud to perform well in the gold medal match, having a shot success rate of more than 90 per cent as Canada surmounted a 5-6 deficit in the ninth end – the penultimate round – to score three points to grab the gold.
“This is incredible to win this with everything that had gone on,” said Kennedy after his team took the gold.
“It means the world to me to see my teammates with a medal around their neck,” said Kennedy. “I don’t know if people will ever understand what we went through this week as a team, what I put them through this week as a team. I’m just so proud of them. I love these guys.
“There was a lot of hate out there this week, but we made a choice not to let any of that hate in the room, not to give it a voice in our heads and just trust one another.”
Kennedy had blocked out social media in the days after the Sweden game. “I needed to give the best version of myself. Reading any of that would have weakened me or weakened our team.”
Brad Jacobs, the Canadian skipper, was instrumental in the critical 9th end, when he scored a three for Canada, turning a 5-6 deficit into an 8-6 lead.
“To any future Olympians or young curlers in Canada, just surround yourself with people that love you and people that want to see you succeed and everything else is just noise,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy had suggested after the detonation of the cheating allegation last week that it was a premeditated attack on the Canadians.
Whether he threw the veritable first stone or not, Eriksson did not retreat at all from his accusation, which was backed by teammates, telling a Swedish outlet that Kennedy’s reaction bespoke someone who was guilty.
The stone’s handle has electronic sensors that detect releases past the hog line – a line drawn across the ice. They do not sense a soft touch on the rock, however.
Curling, invented in Scotland during the 16th century, is a quaint sport played on ice that has some traits of lawn bowls or bocce. The granite rock or “stone” is released with the purpose of getting close to the middle of a circle. It can knock out the opposing team’s stone, in what is termed “a take-out” shot.
The Canadians celebrate their winning moment.Credit: Getty Images
One curler releases the stone, and a pair of teammates follow its progress and can furiously scrub the ice – changing its direction or speed – to gain the best possible final destination.
Curling is a sport that historically relies on players self-policing, which is why a cheating allegation is comparable to the stigma of doing so in golf. The sport does not have a video review system such as football’s video assistant referee (VAR) or cricket’s third umpire.
Referring to the Sweden confrontation and allegation of cheating, Kennedy said: “Everybody knows what happened. I let my emotions get the best of me in a moment.
“I could have handled that better, absolutely. But what’s done was done. I stood up for my teammates. I’ll never back down from that.”
The Winter Olympic Games is broadcast on the Nine Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
