Winter Olympics cheating storm escalates after fresh allegation | Other | Sport
Clearly furious with the allegations, Kennedy launched an X-rated rant at his opponents, 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.”
After the 8-6 loss, Sweden’s Pablo Lachat-Couchepin also spoke about the incident, explaining that officials are going to monitor matters. He explained: “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.
“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.”
And now, Team GB’s Mouat has also given his opinion on the debacle, suggesting that while Kennedy may not have meant anything by it, he hopes that all athletes stick to fair play. 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.'”
