Olympics-Curling-World body steps up officiating after Sweden accuse Canada of cheating

By Aadi Nair

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 14 (Reuters) - World Curling said on Saturday that it would have officials monitoring for rule violations during the rest of the competition at the Olympics after Sweden's men's team accused Canada of cheating in a tense round-robin game.

Tensions boiled over on Friday when Brad Jacobs's Canada beat Sweden 8-6, with Niklas Edin's rink alleging their opponents were double touching the stone during the contest.

World Curling has introduced electronic handles on stones at the Games, which flash red if players are still making contact with the stone beyond the hog line - the point where curlers must let go during delivery.

However, the sensor for detecting violations is in the handle, with Sweden alleging Canada's players were touching the granite, where there are no sensors.

"It is not possible for World Curling to have game umpires positioned to observe all hog lines for every stone delivery," World Curling said in a statement.

"However, beginning with the Saturday (February 14) afternoon session, two officials will move between all four sheets and observe deliveries."

World Curling also clarified its rules on deliveries, saying: "During forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play."

INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR

After Sweden and Canada asked officials to keep an eye on their opponents' deliveries early on, there was a heated exchange between the teams' thirds Marc Kennedy and Oskar Eriksson towards the end of the game.

Eriksson told Kennedy he would show him a video replay of him touching the stone repeatedly. The Canadian responded with an expletive.

"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," the sport's governing body said.

"During that meeting it was made clear to those officials that further inappropriate behaviour... would result in additional sanctions."

Curling Canada CEO Nolan Thiessen said it was a poor choice of words from Kennedy

"I think heat of the moment, I would allow for as well," Thiessen told reporters.

"Something was said in his ear which got him going. Head games get played in a lot of sports and things get said in competitive sport and I think this was one of those situations. Do I wish Mark didn't drop an F-bomb? Yeah."

Thiessen said similar incidents often occurred in other sports, referencing the ice hockey tournaments at the Olympics.

"I'm sure during a few of those games in Milan yesterday, there were a few comments that were said to each other that just weren't live mic'd on across the globe," he added.

"I think that happens in a lot of sports but it's the gift and the curse of our live mics."

VIDEO OF INCIDENT

Swedish media on Friday released videos and images of 2010 Olympic champion Kennedy appearing to touch a stone while it was crossing the hog line.

Asked about the video, Thiessen replied: "I was surprised that there was a live video on the hog line outside of OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services) rules. That seems odd to me."

Sweden's head coach Fredrik Lindberg said they had raised the issue in the past.

"It just blew up now because of the reactions that happened and the fact that it's at the Olympics," he added.

"We made the same comment last year at the Worlds and it's not a new thing to us. So we keep notifying them and then World Curling needs to do what they can. Once the umpires are out there, then they're the ones that deal with it."