Video reignites Canada and Sweden curling double-touch feud

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Oskar Eriksson is double-dipping on the Olympic curling double-touch controversy, seemingly poking the bear with a new video posted online.

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The Swedish curler who called Canadian curler Marc Kennedy at the Winter Olympics earlier this year has reignited the controversy, demonstrating the maneuver on a video circulated by SVT.

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During a preliminary round matchup in Milano-Cortina, Eriksson — the third on Niklas Edin’ rink — accused Kennedy of breaking the rules by giving an extra touch to a rock that he had just released.

In the video posted on March 27, Eriksson demonstrates how much a double-touch can alter a shot’s trajectory.

“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 says in Swedish, per CBC’s Verity Stevenson.

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Eriksson also twisted the knife a little bit, insinuating that the Canadian rink was “evil.”

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“I’m not taking anything away from the fact that they are good curlers. But I wish they had just chosen to play the same way that all other teams try to do,” Eriksson says in the video. “Evil unfortunately wins sometimes.”

What was the Olympic controversy?

The video comes roughly a month and a half after a heated argument erupted between Eriksson and Kennedy during their match, with allegations, insults and harsh words being thrown in both directions.

It began with Eriksson accusing Kennedy of touching the rock after his release, to which Kennedy said that he was still touching the rock throughout the incident.

“I haven’t done it once,” Kennedy said.

“I’ll show you a video after the game,” Eriksson said.

“How about you walking around on my peel dancing around the house here,” Kennedy fired back.

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“I’ll show you a video when it’s two metres over the hog line,” Eriksson replied before things settled down.

Rachel Homan, the skip of Canada’s women’s team in Italy, was also accused of double-touching during the Games.

What does the rule book say?

According to the World Curling rulebook, “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.”

However, another rule also states that “a double touch by the person delivering the stone, prior to the hog line at the delivering end, is not considered a violation.”

While Canada’s men’s team went on to win the Olympic gold medal, Eriksson might’ve gotten the last laugh this past weekend. Team Sweden defeated Canada – skipped by Matt Dunstone – at the men’s world championship on Sunday.

According to CBC, Kennedy and Team Canada have yet to comment on the video featuring Eriksson.

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