Curlinggate

Curling is an Olympic sport, and one that, being on a sheet of ice, is quite popular in Canada. Canada has won, in the three events (men, women, and mixed) 11 Olympic medals since since the sport was reintroduced to the games in 1998 (Wikipedia). (Curling had a 74 year hiatus from the winter games, before being reintroduced 1998.) They have not won an Olympic gold medal since 2014, however, when they earned gold in both the men and women events. That means they must be quite hungry for a gold medal. Canada won men's gold in three consecutive Olympics: 2006, 2010 and 2014. Canada is to curling what the Soviet Union was to hockey from 1964 to just before the Soviets loss to the US in the Olympics in 1980. Sweden has eight medals in this time frame, and won the gold in the 2022 games in the Men's division. Canada is big into curling, and so it is interesting that our northern neighbor has instigated Curlinggate by double touching the granite stone. 

I often think of curlers as being rather polite to each other, even in competition. I am not sure how I got that image, perhaps since it is an event where they are close to each other on the same sheet, but not bashing the opponents head in. Or, the curler I know is such a gentleman that I could not see him reacting the way the Canadian third did to the Swedish allegation. That is why I took some interest in a dustup that occurred between Sweden and Canada in the men's match at the Olympics less than a week ago.  A Swede said that the Canadian third touched the stone again after it was released, a double touch is against the rules. This less than polite Canadian unleashed a series of F-bombs against the Swede. He then tried to paint the Swedes as the guilty party. Does not say much about Canadian nice. That lack of niceness was reiterated in a BBC report.

The BBC reports that what the Canadian men's third and the woman skip did makes it a "sad day" for curling. The BBC had this to say: While the curlers have shown their anger over the situation during matches, fans of the sport and Canadians have questioned whether the team acted in the spirit of curling. To quote the BBC: "In a country well known for its 'niceness', the cheating row has stung for some. The BBC asked tourists and locals in Montreal what they made of it. 'It's a sad day for Canadian sport,' said Tim Gray, from Alberta. 'Integrity in the sport is important, even if you have to call it on yourself.'" Other news outlets, LA Times as one, say Curlinggate has destroyed the trust for a sport which has typically operated on a culture of trust and self-regulation.

Canadian Men's Curler, Marc Kennedy, who was
said by Swedes to Double touch
Image: Tiziana Fabi /AFP via Getty Images

This got me wondering what that gentleman curler acquaintance of mine thought. He was born and raised in Canada, but has lived in the US for much of his adult life. He has been an Olympic coach of the US Women's Curling team (2010) and during his career a two-time US men's champion and two-time world bronze medalist. When asked about the situation he made two cogent points. First, that if the issue of the double touch was raised it likely had occurred. Such that it made me think no one would bring up the double touch if it was not true. Second, he intimated that such double touch seems to be somewhat common, as he said other Canadian teams have done this in the past. This makes me wonder if they are coached (wink, wink) that way?  Delivery of the rock is crucial in curling. You try to get it in the house or knock other rocks out of the house. The sheet is swept ahead of the rock after it is delivered to form a layer of water to move the rock faster, or to alter its direction. Actually, according to the BBC the physics behind how and why the stone moves is really not well understood. 

Curling goes way back. According to World Curling "The first written evidence appeared in Latin, when in 1540, John McQuhin, a notary in Paisley, Scotland, recorded in his protocol book a challenge between John Sclater, a monk in Paisley Abbey and Gavin Hamilton, a representative of the Abbot." 

Canadian Woman team skip, was hit with a double touch
Image: Fatima Shbair/AP Photo/picture alliance

I curled one day, many years ago, and never could get my knees to cooperate, so I declined any further involvement. It seems like a somewhat silly sport until you try it and it is more difficult than one would have thought. I am not sure how well I delivered the rock, that piece of granite with a handle attached, much less judging how much to sweep. 

With the complaint. the Olympics have now decided, since the infamous brush up (pun intended) at the Canadian-Sweden match, to have two judges at the delivery end. Now, showing that perhaps my source is correct regarding Canada, the Canadian women's skip had a delivery stone pulled due to the same issue the men allegedly did, touching the stone twice. Following that on Sunday, the British team's third had a stone pulled for the same reason. My source's comments (see paragraph three) came before it was made public that the Canadian women had a delivery disqualified. Hence, this could be the way our northern neighbors are taught how to cheat at this sport, with perhaps difficulty in noticing what is occurring on the delivery. The fact that two incidents have occurred since the additional referee was added makes me think it is engrained in these curlers, and has been practiced that way. Otherwise why would you risk disqualification of a stone by the double touch? It may be a difficult habit to break. The extra touch is used to add or reduce speed. Keen eyes, it seems are required to pick this out, and hopefully they are better at it than NFL referee's trying to determine what is or is not a catch, or interference on a pass play. I wonder if curling will go to the replay booth to help determine the proper call. Curlinggate. Curling's version of the NFL's Deflategate. In 2014-2015, the sport was rocked by new bristles on brushes which were able to alter the trajectory of the stone in a greater degree, this became known as Broomgate, or Brushgate. And, for all the gates, whether brooms, deflate, or curling, we have Watergate to thank.

The Canadian who started the controversy, denies the double touched, even when a video from a Swedish network seemed to implicate him as touching the stone twice. He may not know he even does it, that is how ingrained it has become. The Canadians now claim the Swedes were illegally filming the match. The recalcitrant Canadian believes the Swedes were filming to catch a curler in the act of the double touch. He calls it a premeditated plan to catch the illegal touches, and he claims they have filmed other teams too. If so, the Swedes were waiting for the right moment to make the call and release the video. Does curling now have an illegal video being taken to prove illegal activity? 

Science may have trouble explaining how a curling stone moves, but it has figured out the ability to get lift in ski jumping. Male ski jumpers apparently thought to inject their male organ with hyaluronic acid to get more girth and hence to get more lift on the jump. More lift equals more distance. The injections led to the additional regulations right before the Olympics. In the meantime, it seems other Olympic sports are taking heed. An Austrian ski jumper was disqualified because his ski boot was 4mm too long. A US woman ski jumper was disqualified because her skis were too long. It seems that ski jumpers were to enthralled with the hyaluronic acid issue to make sure their equipment met the specs. Curlinggate only leads to removal of the stone double touched, not a disqualification. 

And, if once was not enough, and perhaps showing how this is ingrained in the Canadians, it came out Tuesday that on Monday Marc Kennedy of Canada was called out by a Swedish journalist who took a photo of him double touching against Czechia. Responding to the reporter when confronted, Kennedy said there was not a single intentional double touch. The key word being intentional. Whether by design, or simply by habit, it is still not legal. Except the Canadians apparently do not see it that way. The Swedish photographer also apparently has photos of the Canadian men's skip double touching. I am not sure where the officials were, perhaps looking the other way. For some reason, I don't think this will go away, and it is a stain on a once gentile sport. Canadian press would not allow the journalist to speak to the skip. It seems as if they will have to go to video replay.

Swedish Journalist photo of
reputed illegal touch in Canada 
against Czechia

What athletes are willing to do to try to find that edge to get higher, stronger and faster seems to lead to controversy and then more regulations. People will be people in always looking for that slight edge over their competition. Ski jumpers are willing to inject themselves, and then we have the Canadian and British curlers doing the double touches. If Canada were to win a medal it could well be clouded by their double touching, and make the curling crowd wonder if the double touches influenced early match outcomes. One mate involved in curling in Canada, subscribes to a school of journalism popularized by the current US President (all news is good news) and said the added press may be good for the sport. 

Curlinggate gets more juicy by the day and Canada is getting more press on this issue than it may have desired, on the other hand they kept it going by their whining about the issue. It is also why I decided I have to get this published, otherwise it would take a life of its own, as Canada simply can't keep their fingers off the stone. As Curlinggate dominates the Olympic press, curlers need to ask themselves what impact this will have on the sport.