THE WIFE of Canadian curler Marc Kennedy has reportedly received abuse as part of a growing cheating controversy.
Kennedy makes up part of the men’s curling team hoping to bring home gold at the Winter Olympics in Italy.
Canadian curler Marc Kennedy’s wife has received abuse following his cheating controversyCredit: Reuters
Canada have faced multiple accusations of cheating at the games so farCredit: PA
But that run has begun with a series of accusations aimed at the Canadian stars in regard to .
The infraction involves touching the handle of the stone after it passes the boundary by which it must be released (the hog line).
It can also be when a curler touches the granite of the stone while it is in a forward motion, which is not permitted.
Kennedy was accused of exactly that by Sweden on Friday as Canada beat them 8-6 in the round-robin tournament.
The jab at his integrity clearly affected Kennedy, who at his accuser Oskar Eriksson.
He said: “I haven’t done it once, you can f*** off. I don’t give a s***.”
Kennedy faced backlash for the accusations and his language, receiving a .
But it seems some have taken things too far, with Curling Canada‘s CEO Nolan Thiessen revealing that Kennedy’s wife has been receiving abuse following the controversy.
He told CBC: “There has been some offside stuff that has come to (Kennedy’s) wife’s social media, which is crap.
“These guys are human beings, and their families need to be left out of it.”
Kennedy has been accused of double-touchingCredit: PA What are the double-touch curling rules?
World Curling issued a clarification on the rule of double-touching on Saturday amid the growing controversy.
The statement read: “Game Umpires are situated at the end of each sheet and physically cannot see every delivery infraction. However, when they are made aware of delivery issues, game umpires are positioned to observe the delivery for three ends. During this period of observation in the Friday evening game, there were no violations recorded.
“When delivering a stone, before the hog line players can retouch the handle as many times as they wish. However, touching the handle after the hog line is not allowed and will result in the stone being removed from play as per Rule R.5 (e) that states: “A stone must be clearly released from the hand before it reaches the hog line at the delivery end. If the player fails to do so, the stone is immediately removed from play by the delivering team.”
“During forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play.
“As per rule R.5 (d): ‘The curling stone must be delivered using the handle of the stone.‘ Violation of this rule, will result in the stone being removed from play.
“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 (14 February) afternoon session, two officials will move between all four sheets and observe deliveries.”
The executive then followed up voicing his support for Kennedy and his team in the face of the allegations.
He said: “In my standpoint, I’m fully supportive of them and everything they’re trying to accomplish. We’ll handle it and we have your back.
“We talked to Marc and told them to concentrate on curling and make some shots.”
Kennedy expressed regret for his comments following the match with Sweden, but not for their sentiment.
He said after the incident: “You can’t take it back. You learn from it and move on and try to get the focus back on the curling.
“But I’ll be honest with you guys: my whole life, when my integrity has been questioned, sometimes that’s the response I have.”
But moving on proved difficult for Canada after they were again accused of double-touching the following day.
as the Swedes during their 9-5 win over the Canadians on Saturday.
Swiss curler Pablo Lachat-Couchepin was heard telling a coach that he saw the Canadians double-touch, and that he was not the only one who caught it.
Per the Toronto Star , he said: “I don’t want to focus too much on it, but he double-touched, and the referee saw it.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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