If you thought the Olympic “double-touch” curling drama between Canada and Sweden was over, think again.
Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson, the man who started the Olympic controversy by accusing Canada’s Marc Kennedy of cheating, has added some new information to the debate.
Per CBC’s Verity Stevenson, a video circulated last week by Swedish media outlet SVT shows Eriksson demonstrating how much a double touch can impact the trajectory of a shot.
“At our level, just altering a stone by five centimetres on the other side, knowing how little you need to do to make that correction, is also a skill,” Eriksson said during the demonstration, per Stevenson.
Rule 5(e) in the curling rule book 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.”
Rule 9(a) states: “If a moving stone is touched, or is caused to be touched, by the team to which it belongs, or by their equipment, the touched stone is removed from play immediately by that team. A double touch by the person delivering the stone, prior to the hog line at the delivering end, is not considered a violation.”
Back in February at the Olympics, Eriksson sparked a heated debate throughout the curling world by accusing Kennedy of touching the rock after his release.
Eriksson went at Kennedy, accusing him of double-touching the rock as he released, saying his hand was still touching the rock after the hog line. The two swore at each other continuously.
“I haven’t done it once,” Kennedy said.
“I’ll show you a video after the game,” Eriksson replied.
“How about you walking around on my peel dancing around the house here,” Kennedy shot back.
“I’ll show you a video when it’s two metres over the hog line,” Eriksson responded before the teams actually started curling again in the 10th end.
Canada, skipped by Brad Jacobs, went on to win the match and eventually took home the gold medal at the Olympics.
But the drama continued throughout the tournament, and even moved over to the women’s side, when Canada’s Rachel Homan was also accused of cheating.
While the debate divided many in the sport, it was also great publicity and caused plenty of new fans to tune in.
The timing of Eriksson’s latest video is also great for the new Rock League, which begins on Monday in Toronto.
Eriksson is a member of the Alpine Curling Club, which takes on Jacobs’ Shield Curling Club in the first-ever match in Rock League history on Monday morning.
