Olympic Curling Cheating Accusation Sparks Tournament-Wide Controversy, Pulls Canada’s Women’s Team Into Dispute
A cheating accusation during a men’s curling match at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy triggered heightened officiating across the tournament, leading to disqualified stones and sharp pushback from Canadian athletes — including a women’s team that says it had nothing to do with the original dispute.
Here’s what you should know:
- Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson accused Canada’s Marc Kennedy of “double-touching” during a men’s curling match on Friday, Feb. 13, sparking a heated confrontation
- World Curling deployed additional officials to monitor the hog line across the tournament in response
- Canadian women’s skip Rachel Homan had her first rock pulled for a “double touch” violation during a Saturday match against Switzerland — a match Canada lost
- The new monitoring policy was abandoned roughly a day after it was introduced, following backlash
- Great Britain’s Bobby Lammie also had a rock disqualified in a match against Germany on Sunday
How It Started
The controversy began during a men’s match between Canada and Sweden on Friday, Feb. 13. Eriksson accused Kennedy of committing a “double-touching” violation during a stone delivery.
Under World Curling rules, a player may retouch the handle of a stone as many times as they wish before the hog line — the thick stripe marking the end of the release zone. Touching the handle after the hog line is not allowed.
Kennedy responded to the accusation with “You can f*** off.” He denied cheating but acknowledged he “probably could have handled it better,” according to ESPN.
How It Spread to the Women’s Game
By Saturday, World Curling had weighed in with a statement: “During forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play.”
The organization added officials specifically to watch for hog-line violations.
In a women’s match between Canada and Switzerland on Saturday, Feb. 14, officials pulled Homan’s first rock for a “double touch” violation — the same infraction Kennedy had been accused of a day earlier.
Canada lost the match to Switzerland. The disqualified stone became a flashpoint.
Canadian men’s skip Brad Jacobs called the additional scrutiny “despicable,” per the Los Angeles Times.
“As Canadian curlers, we were targeted. And to go out and pull her rock like that, I think it was a tragedy,” Jacobs said.
Canadian Women’s Team: ‘We Had Nothing to Do With That’
Members of Canada’s women’s team made clear they felt unfairly swept into a dispute that started between two players in the men’s draw.
“It obviously was like a heated moment between two players that blew it up,” Canadian women’s team second Emma Miskew said, per Reuters.
“We had nothing to do with that. So we felt like we were brought into a situation that we had no part in.”
A controversy born from one confrontation in a men’s match had directly affected the outcome of their game.
Homan Rejects Cheating Label
On Monday, Feb. 16, Homan addressed the accusations head-on.
“I think the word cheating came out of nowhere. It has nothing to do with cheating. There’s no chance that Canadians would ever intentionally cheat,” Homan said per Reuters.
“We don’t do that. We’re playing out there. We’re fierce. You know, things happen. People burn rocks. People go over the hog line - that’s just part of the sport.”
“There’s judges and reviews to make sure everything stays within how it’s supposed to be played,” she said, adding: “We don’t take lightly to feeling like someone thinks we’re cheating out there.”
Homan framed the infractions not as deliberate dishonesty but as incidental contact that happens naturally in competition — something the existing officiating structure should be designed to handle.
BOTTOM LINE: A single confrontation between two players over an alleged rule violation reshaped officiating across the entire Olympic curling tournament — and Canada’s teams say the fallout was far more damaging than the original incident.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 3:49 PM.
