‘I told him where to stick it’ – Canada and Sweden in curling row

Elite sport is tense, fraught and competitive. But still, you don’t expect a curling match to descend into finger-pointing, swearing and accusations of cheating.

When the men’s rinks of Canada and Sweden met at the Winter Olympics in Cortina on Friday, tempers became frayed.

The Swedes believed one of the Canadians was repeatedly double-touching some of his stones – basically releasing the handle at the appropriate time but then giving the stone another little prod with his finger to correct its course.

Sweden skip Niklas Edin raised it with the officials between the second and third ends and the row quietly simmered away as the contest unfolded.

Then, going into the last end, irritation turned to anger. Gestures were made then, suddenly, Canada’s Marc Kennedy and Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson were spitting swear words at each other across the sheet.

“I don’t like being accused of cheating after 25 years on tour and four Olympic Games,” said Kennedy. “So I told him [Eriksson] where to stick it. He might have been upset that he was losing…”