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The Canadians beat Great Britain for Olympic curling gold on Saturday 9-6 after shrugging off cheating accusations during the round-robin phase at the Milan Cortina Games.
The chaos began on February 13, when Canada beat Sweden 8-6, and third Canadian Marc Kennedy and Swede Oskar Eriksson got involved.
Eriksson had accused Kennedy of an illegal procedure known as double-tapping stones after releasing them into the pig line. Kennedy responded with expletives.
Both sides appealed to officials, but the results were not 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 match against Great Britain at the Cortina Olympic Curling Stadium during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, Feb. 21, 2026, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. (Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images)
The next day, Canadians accused the Swedes of improperly filming Kennedy's birth. The Swedish team denied any inappropriate filming and stated that the video came from the Swedish public broadcaster.
Members from Switzerland also accused the Canadians of double-tapping, and similar accusations reached the women's competition. (The Canadian women defeated the United States in the bronze medal game.)
World Curling ultimately concluded that “no violations were recorded” during referee observations that followed the claims.
Canada's Ben Hebert, Brett Gallant and Marc Kennedy compete during a men's curling round-robin match against Switzerland at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
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“The game officials are situated at the end of each sheet and cannot physically see each delivery infraction,” World Curling said. “However, when informed of delivery problems, the game referees are in a position to observe the delivery for three ends.
“During this observation period in Friday night's game, no violations were recorded,” the statement added, noting that video replay is not used during games and that the referee's decision is final.
However, Britain was also accused of cheating. Great Britain was facing Germany in a round-robin match when officials said Scottish curler Bobby Lammie touched a rock after dropping it on the ice. Great Britain had a stone taken off due to the double touch, but still finished with a 9-4 victory.
World Curling said that, as a result of the allegations against Canada, it would appoint two officials to move between the four curling matches during each round, but noted that it was “not possible” to have umpires located on each pig line, the line where stones must be released by hand.
Canada's Ben Hebert, right, and Brad Jacobs celebrate becoming Olympic champions after defeating Great Britain in the men's curling gold medal game at the Cortina Olympic Curling Stadium during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo on February 21, 2026. (Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images)
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It was Canada's fourth gold in men's curling and its first since 2014, when it also beat Great Britain to cap three straight Olympic golds. It is heartbreaking again for Great Britain, who settled for silver four years ago.
Fox News' Ryan Gaydos, Jackson Thompson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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