Ten days ago, against Team Sweden, Team Canada was accused of touching the granite multiple times. While the rule did not allow it, World Curling ruled that no such violation had occurred, given that there were not enough linemen to judge the situation in real time. On Saturday, even though they won the gold, the echo of the accusations persists, with Barstool’s Dave Portnoy leading the voices.

“Newsflash @CurlingCanada, nobody recognizes your gold medal. You are cheating lowlife liars. The entire world witnessed it. Tomorrow, your hockey team will pay for your sins on an intergalactic level. #canadacurlingcheats,” wrote Portnoy on his X account. 

On February 13, Swedish third Oskar Eriksson approached an on-ice official during the ninth end of play, suggesting that the Canadian Team’s third, Marc Kennedy, pushed the stone with his index finger while launching it. He also pointed at Canada’s Brett Gallant for his double-touching habit. Both instances violated the rules of the game, but in certain conditions:

According to Rule R.5: “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, before the hog line at the delivering end, is not considered a violation.”

Moreover,

Rule R.5 (d) explains: “The curling stone must be delivered using the handle of the stone.”

Making secondary contact with the granite can help the curlers to alter the course. While the organization itself dismissed the case as Team Canada edged Sweden out 8-6, they did give the winners a verbal warning.

Things heated up when Canada’s Kennedy replied to Team Sweden with a foul-mouthed “f— off”, which resulted in him getting a warning for ‘inappropriate language.’ 

Rule R.19 states: “Improper conduct, foul or offensive language, equipment abuse, or wilful damage on the part of any team member is prohibited. Any violation may result in suspension of the offending person(s) by the curling organisation having jurisdiction.”

However, it was simply a verbal warning, and nothing came of it. But while the Canadians denied the cheating claims, SVT, a Swedish broadcaster, revealed clips where it was evident that Kennedy did touch the stone twice. The clips soon went viral across the internet, making the claim by Team Sweden more obvious. 

Thus, the moment posts sprang up celebrating Canada’s curling gold, it was met with harsh criticisms everywhere. But Portnoy went up a notch.

He predicted that Team USA would beat their Northern neighbors in the ice hockey finals to avenge all the cheating that the Canadian curlers resorted to. What’s funny is that that did happen.

But surprisingly, despite all the backlash, Canada had a strong response to the allegations. 

Brad Jacobs had strong words for Team Canada’s haters

The ‘cheater’ tag now resonated with Team Canada’s curling team. But staying strong amidst all the negativity, the Canadian curlers are dishing out quite a mouthful to their haters.

Brad Jacobs, who failed to clear the trials in 2018 and 2022, sounded pretty elated. In a statement to the Associated Press, he asked their haters how the sight of the Canadian curlers clinching the gold medal felt. 

“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,” said Jacobs. 

Meanwhile, this was the first Olympic gold medal for Canada in men’s curling since the Sochi 2014 Games. Surely, it does look like the curling controversy is far from being over.