‘A sad day’ – curling cheating row at Winter Games unsettles Canadians

Allegations of illegal “double-touching” against Canadian curling stars Marc Kennedy and Rachel Homan have sparked a heated sportsmanship crisis and a rare disciplinary warning from World Curling at the 2026 Winter Games.

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina has been upended by a “double-touching” scandal involving Canada’s historically dominant curling teams. Tensions peaked when Canadian curler Marc Kennedy launched an expletive-filled outburst at Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson following accusations of an illegal delivery, later claiming his team was the target of a “premeditated” attack. Despite Kennedy’s denial that he ever played with the “intention of getting an advantage through cheating,” video footage appearing to show the violation went viral, leading World Curling to issue a verbal warning for his language. The controversy deepened when women’s skip Rachel Homan had a stone removed against Switzerland for the same infraction a call she slammed as “insane”—sparking a national debate in Canada over whether the pursuit of gold has compromised the country’s reputation for sportsmanship.

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