Earlier in the Olympics the Canadian men’s curling team made headlines for all the wrong reasons this week after appearing to be caught cheating during a match against Sweden.
After being caught touching the stone when he shouldn’t have, Marc Kennedy exploded on the opposition before he Canada received a verbal warning from World Curling for offensive language. While the Canadian team didn’t actually receive a punishment, the Olympics made it very clear judges would be watching closely to make sure play remained fair.
“It is not possible for World Curling to have game umpires positioned to observe all hog lines for every stone delivery. However, beginning with the Saturday afternoon session, two officials will move between all four sheets and observe deliveries,” World Curling announced at the time before withdrawing that decision.
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After ending the Olympics on top, Canada’s Brad Jacobs offered a harsh message for the team’s critics.
“For anyone who called us cheaters, for anyone who said negative things about Marc Kennedy, about us, about Canada, about our families, I hope that the image of us standing on top of the podium, embracing one another, smiling ear to ear with our gold medals, is burned into your brain forever,” he said.
The curling controversy sparked plenty of conversation on social media, so much so that Kennedy entered a social media blackout to avoid the negative comments. In the end, Kennedy and Canada landed on top of the podium with a 9-6 win over Great Britain for the gold medal.
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