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Canadian men beat Great Britain for Olympic curling gold Saturday 9-6 after brushing aside accusations of cheating during the round-robin stage of the Milan Cortina Games.
The chaos began on February 13, when Canada beat Sweden 8-6, and Canadian third Marc Kennedy and Swede Oskar Eriksson entered the fray.
Eriksson had accused Kennedy of an illegal procedure known as double contact with stones after releasing them onto the pig line. Kennedy responded with expletives.
Both sides appealed to the authorities, but no results were changed.
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Gold medalists Brad Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert of Team Canada celebrate a victory in the men’s gold medal game against Great Britain at the Cortina Olympic Curling Stadium during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, February 21, 2026, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. (Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images)
The next day, the Canadians accused the Swedes of inappropriately filming Kennedy’s birth. The Swedish team denied any inappropriate filming, saying the video came from the Swedish public broadcaster.
Swiss members also accused the Canadians of double contact, and similar accusations reached the women’s competition. (The Canadians beat the United States in the bronze medal match).
World Curling ultimately concluded that “no violations were recorded” during the umpires’ observations following the protests.
Ben Hebert, Brett Gallant and Marc Kennedy of Canada compete in a men’s curling match against Switzerland at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, February 14, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
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“Playing officials are located at the end of each lane and cannot physically see every delivery infraction,” World Curling said. “However, when informed of delivery issues, game umpires are positioned to observe the delivery for three ends.
“During this observation period during Friday evening’s match, no infraction was recorded,” the statement added, specifying that video replay is not used during matches and that the referee’s decision is final.
But Britain has also been accused of cheating. Great Britain was playing Germany in the round robin when officials said Scottish curler Bobby Lammie hit a stone after releasing it onto the ice. Great Britain had a stone removed due to double contact, but still ended up winning 9-4.
World Curling said that following the accusations against Canada, it would designate two officials to move between the four curling matches during each round, but noted that it was “not possible” to have referees stationed at each hog line, the line where stones must be dropped by hand.
Ben Hebert, right, and Brad Jacobs of Canada celebrate becoming Olympic champions after beating Great Britain in the men’s curling gold medal match at the Cortina Olympic Curling Stadium during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, February 21, 2026. (Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images)
It is Canada’s fourth gold medal in men’s curling and the first since 2014, when Canada also beat Great Britain to cap three consecutive Olympic gold medals. It’s heartbreaking again for Britain, which settled for silver four years ago.
