Team GB and Team Canada will compete for gold in the men’s curling on Saturday, but the North American side’s Marc Kennedy continues to face criticism from Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson following a contentious incident. Earlier in the Winter Olympics, they encountered Sweden in a heated clash. Eriksson accused Kennedy of double-touching the curling stone and branded him a cheat during an 8-6 loss.

The accusations triggered an expletive-laden row between the two players, though Kennedy and Canada escaped punishment. Kennedy subsequently claimed it was a “premeditated” attack by Sweden, but Eriksson has criticised the Canadian once more despite his team’s elimination.

The confrontation began when Kennedy was accused of touching the curling stone with his finger after releasing it down the ice. Players are permitted to touch the handle of the curling stone multiple times, but cannot make contact once it crosses the hog line.

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Eriksson alleged Kennedy made contact with the granite portion of the stone with his finger after releasing it. Kennedy received a warning from World Curling, though not for breaking rules.

Rather, it was for his language following the dispute with Eriksson.

Kennedy acknowledged he could have managed the situation better but declined to apologise, insisting he was defending himself, Canada, and his team-mates. Eriksson and Sweden were knocked out in the quarter-finals, but he’s slammed Kennedy again.

“You don’t react like that if you know you’re not guilty,” he told Swedish outlet Varmlands Folkblad. “I don’t think he slept as well that night as I did. If he now chooses to think he did the right thing, he will have to take responsibility for it.

“He hasn’t dared to look in my direction. He’s probably ashamed. Mature for a 44-year-old father of two.”

Kennedy then claimed that Sweden had devised a strategy to disrupt Team Canada and even accused the opposition of installing cameras to expose them.

“They have come up with a plan here at the Olympics, as far as I know, to catch teams in the act at the hog line,” Kennedy said.

“This was planned… it was kind of evident that something was going on, and they were trying to catch us in an act.

“I know we’re not the only team that they’ve done that to. So I think this was, I don’t know what the word is for that, but like a premeditated plan to try to catch us.”

Nevertheless, Eriksson responded sharply, accusing Kennedy of applying ‘double standards’ after the incident. “He got furious at that person (who accused him) and shouted that he had lost respect for him and thought he had been hung out to dry,” Eriksson replied.

“He said the same thing then as now, that he had filmed a lot of opponents – but still thought that it was unsportsmanlike if someone filmed him. The double standard in that doesn’t work.”

This article first appeared on Mirror US.

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