“Curlers play to win, but never to humiliate their opponents. A true curler never tries to distract his opponents or prevent them from doing his best, but would rather lose than win unfairly.”
These are parts of the foreword to the curling rule book.
It is a piece of writing that rhymes poorly with the events of the Olympic curling tournament, where the profanity, allegations of cheating and violations proven on video sent emotions soaring and a whole world talking about the sport.
But “Curlinggate” took off not in Cortina. Already after the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang 2018, Swedish players, Team Niklas Edin, but also Team Anna Hasselborg, began to point out that the opponents had started to break the rules.
At last year’s World Cup there was a fight between Sweden and Italy. The Swedes claimed that the Italians took advantage of the fact that the sensors and lights in the stones’ handles were removed due to technical problems. The sensors detected when the player released their checker in front of the so-called hog line, but when the lights no longer glowed green or red, players began to ignore the rules and slide over the line.
“Like a long jump overstep or like a soccer player bringing the ball a meter from the penalty spot,” Oskar Eriksson told DN when we discussed the topic at the European Championships in Finland.
For this championship the technology was back, but when DN asked Italian skipper Joel Retornaz how he saw things, he said that “overshooting” was not the only problem. The number of players who touched the stone after it was released was at least as large.
The exact breach overshadowed the entire Olympic tournament and garnered stories in major publications like the New York Times.
The allegations of Fraud has ruined Canada. The integrity of the largest curling country in the world is threatened.
First, “Fuck off, Oskar” and cheating denial.
Then counter-accusations about a Swedish conspiracy.
And when the Canadian team secured Olympic gold in the men’s tournament, Brad Jacobs, the Canadian captain, said:
– Everyone who called us frauds, everyone who said negative things about Marc Kennedy, about our families and about Canada. I hope that the image of us standing at the top of the podium, smiling with the gold medals around our necks, is burned into your brain forever.
After SVT was shown While she revealed images of Kennedy violating the rules and then Canadian women’s star Rachel Homan was also guilty of the violation, Canadian press director Kyla Jahn refused to let the Swedish media ask Canadians questions.
In a careless moment, DN managed to ask Viktor Kjell questions about his perspective on the matter. Kjell played for Niklas Edin’s old team and became Olympic bronze medalist in Sochi in 2014. Today he is captain of the Canadian national team and is therefore a man with one leg in every curling country.
He replied that he had noted the uproar on social media, but he did not believe the dispute would have far-reaching consequences for relations between the countries.
– World curling has a job to do and we will see if there is a video system that could be considered. “It’s up to World Curling to fix the problem,” Kjell said.
World curling has a job to do and we’ll see if there’s a video system that can come into play. It’s up to World Curling to fix this.
In the end it seems When Canada realized there was a problem here. Coach Paul Webster said:
– If you listen to what Sweden says, I think they are right. “This was an issue that they tried to make clear to our international federation and they did nothing,” Webster told the Grand Slam of Curling website.
At the same time, he criticized the federation for changing the rules, such as the double dunk having to be checked twice during the Olympics, and for having judges who are not used to having to act.
Here’s the gist in the problem. Curling is a gentleman’s sport where, just like golf, players are their own judges. Curling referees are not used to having to intervene and are often the players themselves, often looking up to the star players they are supposed to be watching over.
Canada appears to be divided on Curlingate. There are those who, like columnist Michael Fournier, believe that Sweden and Oskar Eriksson should be ashamed, but others have sided with Sweden, creating an internal Canadian debate online where the choice of words sometimes sounds like Marc Kennedy’s.
Regardless of your opinion, the whole story has shocked the great curling nation. The images of Kennedy screaming the F-word and the stamp touching the granite on the stone have gone viral. He and Canada will forever be remembered for the scandal.
But it’s not just curlinggate that has made Swedish and DN columnist Alex Schulman obsessed with a sport that attracts attention at best in the Winter Olympic year.
The Olympic gold of siblings Isabella and Rasmus Wranå in the mixed doubles went straight across the television screen. 2.7 million SVT viewers watched the final and now curling is played online with rollers, rolling suitcases as well as robot vacuum cleaners and scrub brushes.
Given that Swedish curling has won 12 of a possible 19 medals since the sport was reintroduced to the Olympic program in 1998. It’s only right that she’s getting attention now, even though many die-hard curlers can certainly do without Curlinggate.
For Oskar Eriksson, the Swedish protagonist, the Olympics were not what he and the reigning champions had hoped for in terms of results, but he still leaves Cortina a winner.
The rule violations that he, who has always been an advocate of fair play and recipient of the fair play award at a World Cup, had already pointed out after the 2018 Olympic Games, finally seem to be punished.
– Not a day late. We told this to the World Curling Federation and the teams that broke the rules, such as Italy at both the European Championships and the World Cup. “We are doing what we can to make the game as fair as possible and now it has got the right reaction and we hope it goes well from now on,” says Eriksson.
He is praised, among others, by Sports Minister Jakob Forssmed for daring to stand up against fraud.
“Good game with a narrow defeat against Canada, but above all: Oskar Eriksson and the team stand up against cheating and dominance!” wrote the minister on X.
The Swedes acted sportily during the tournament. In the game against China, a misplayed Chinese stone was allowed that could have been removed. In the decisive phase of the game against Germany, a German player hit both one and two Swedish stones. In good spirit they were replaced, as required by the rules of gentleman’s sport.
Eriksson has not received an apology from Mark Kennedy or Canada.
– But the team and the captain of the national team have backed out, so it seems that the sport is going in the right direction, says Eriksson.
Well, Marc Jacobs’ words after winning Olympic gold suggest that by far the world’s greatest curling nation is not ready to show humility.
How dare you? as Greta Thunberg would have put it.
Facts.The foreword to the rule book for curling
“Curling is a game that requires skill and tradition. A well-executed shot brings joy.”
You see, and it’s also nice to observe the timeless traditions in it
Curling is practiced in the true spirit of the game. Curling players play to win, but
never to humiliate his opponents. A real curler never tries to distract
to defeat the opponents or prevent them from giving their best and prefer to do it
lose rather than win unfairly.”
Read more:
Johan Esk: Swedish chaos ruined the Olympics – not Canada’s cheating fingers
