Olympics-Curling-Double touching drama drains struggling champions Sweden

By Aadi Nair

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 15 (Reuters) - A high-profile controversy over cheating accusations in curling has impacted the sleep and energy levels of Sweden's struggling Olympic champions, skip Niklas Edin said after the latest defeat on Sunday.

Sweden accused Canadian curlers of double touching stones in a game on Friday, triggering a heated clash between players, increased officiating and a media frenzy.

Asked if that was a factor in the 8-5 defeat to the U.S., Edin said: "I think so. We would like to say no, but there's definitely a little lack of sleep and a lot of energy wasted on that.

"Almost every single question in the media zone for 30-40 minutes every day is about that since it happened. It's a little annoying for sure, especially when we didn't really do anything wrong. It's just an unfortunate situation."

In hindsight, Sweden should probably have tried to step back and not answer questions about it, he added.

His team's troubles in the competition predate the double touching drama, however.

Defeats to Italy, Britain, Canada and the U.S., with a single win against China, have left Sweden joint eighth in the standings with Germany to come next on Monday.

Five-times Olympian Edin, at risk of failing to qualify for the semi-finals at the Games for the first time in his career, said ice conditions had been difficult too.

"The ice changed quite a lot from start to finish and we weren't quick enough to pick it up. I'm very disappointed in a lot of things, to be honest," he said.

"I don't know, I'm feeling like the air went out of us after this game (against the U.S.) ... We knew it was a really tough start to the competition ... But we normally start playing really well a few games in.

"Usually by now, it's day four of the event, and it's (the ice) pretty consistent. We've seen something different every single game so far and it was the same in the mixed doubles. We don't want to blame the ice, but it's definitely been tricky."