- - Cursing and cheating accusations: The feisty curling saga that’s heating up at the Winter Olympics

Analysis by Dana O’Neil and Thomas Schlachter, CNNFebruary 15, 2026 at 1:04 AM

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Canada and Sweden played in a heated men's curling round-robin matchup. - Misper Apawu/AP

A brewing controversy is arising in the Olympic curling competition, involving accusations of cheating, denials involving F-bombs and an international governing body having to explain why it effectively relies on the honor system at times.

So why did a game involving Canada and Sweden’s men’s teams devolve into this situation? Well, we’re here to fill you in.

So what happened?

Canada took the win in an 8-6 thriller, but the drama wasn’t just on the ice.

In Friday’s round-robin game, Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson suggested that Canada’s Marc Kennedy broke the rules by touching the curling stone after it was released.

Kennedy shot back, Eriksson rebutted, multiple F-bombs were dropped and Kennedy eventually earned an inappropriate behavior warning from World Curling.

Yet nothing officially happened on the day, with the judge essentially saying “beats me” when asked if he saw the touch.

Replays and some still pictures do appear to show Kennedy’s index finger extending, not unlike the finger of God connecting to Adam above the Sistine Chapel, to glance the stone, but it’s not necessarily conclusive.

Memes have since been made, accusations hurled and defensive positions taken. Social media was full of people accusing Canada of sullying the great sport and sportsmanship of curling.

‘I don’t like being accused of cheating’

Eriksson concurred with Canada’s critics in his postgame interview.

“We want a game that is as sportsmanlike, honest and clean as possible, so we call it out as soon as I see that the Canadian No. 2 is, in my eyes, there poking the stone,” he said after the match.

“He drops the handle, so it gets a green light and that’s OK, but you can’t then poke it in any other part than the electronic handle and, according to us, they did that.”

Canada's Marc Kennedy in action against Sweden. - Misper Apawu/AP

But Kennedy was equally as defiant and doubled down on his stance, strongly refuting the allegations directed towards him.

“He’s still accusing us of cheating, and I didn’t like it. So I told him where to stick it because we’re the wrong team to do that to. So I don’t care. He might have been upset that he was losing.

“I have a ton of respect for Oskar Eriksson. He’s one of the best players to ever play. And I just told him, ‘I would never do that to you. I would never accuse you of cheating.’”

Canada’s Brad Jacobs also defended his teammate postgame, adding fuel to the already growing fire.

“(Eriksson) was a little bit unhappy about some things that were going on, and he was voicing that, and I think just acting, trying to act a little tough, and we’re not going to have it,” Jacobs said.

“If you think that we’re going to put up with anything from those guys or anybody period, you’re wrong. It’s just not going to happen,” he added.

Who knew curling could be so controversial?

Anything come of it?

In a very long, elaborate explanation following the “Cursing Canadian Curling Caper,” World Curling ducked these three lines into a Saturday statement:

“Game Umpires are situated at the end of each sheet and physically cannot see every delivery infraction.”

“It is not possible for World Curling to have game umpires positioned to observe all hog lines for every stone delivery.”

“World Curling does not currently use video replay to re-umpire game decisions. Decisions made during a game are final.”

So … why not? It’s two more people. Do we need a GoFundMe? This is the Olympics, after all, and medals are on the line.

Still, World Curling did say, “Beginning with the Saturday afternoon session, two officials will move between all four sheets and observe deliveries.”

What happened Saturday?

When Canada lined up for its Saturday round-robin game against Switzerland one sheet over from Sweden, you got the feeling fans were hoping for a WWE-style showdown.

It didn’t happen, but there might have been a little gamesmanship. Early on, the Swiss seemed to intentionally stand on either side of the hog line, the green strip before which the players must release the stone, when Canada threw, but that’s not an entirely uncommon practice in a sport that, at the club level, adheres to pickup rules, a.k.a. “call your own foul.”

Otherwise, it was a routine round-robin. No cursing. No fisticuffs. No accusations. Lots of cheering from the fans watching the eight countries on the four sheets.

Switzerland beat Canada 9-5 and on the world marched.

The rules are kinda complicated – players can retouch the handle as many times as they wish before the hog line, but touching the granite is not allowed. It’s all tricky to see to the naked eye, and the handles are fitted with a touch sensor which interacts with the hog line to see when the players have released their stone.

This is where, you’d think, the officials would come in, except, as stated above, World Curling doesn’t station someone at every hog line. Imagine the US Open spreading four tennis courts across and stationing two people on the farthest ends to determine foot faults.

On Saturday, World Curling’s concession to move two officials between the four sheets resulted in, at one point, one official watching the Canadians against Switzerland, with his back turned to US-Germany, and another eyeing up Sweden-China, with her back to Great Britain and the Czech Republic.

Admittedly, this is coming from a person who knows not a lick about curling, but it would seem that having enough folks on hand to make sure the rules are followed at the only time most people have all their attention on the sport isn’t a big ask.

Canada's Marc Kennedy (left) during the Men's Curling match against Switzerland. - Andrew Milligan/PA Images/Getty Images

The upshot of all of this is that Kennedy, who outside of Canada couldn’t have been picked out of a lineup of tourists, is now infamous.

He is not some Joe Schmo, either. The Olympic gold (2010) and bronze (2022) medalist was once voted the greatest male second in Canadian history. The 44-year-old, who paid his bills early in his curling career by running an M&M Meat frozen food franchise, started a bonspiel (tournament) to encourage kids to get involved in curling.

Now, however, he will forever be the Cursing Canadian.

This story has been to correct Eriksson’s country affiliation.

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