'I told him where to stick it' - Canada and Sweden in curling cheating row

Elite sport is tense, fraught and competitive. But still, you don't expect a curling match to descend into finger-pointing, swearing and accusations of cheating.

When the men's rinks of Canada and Sweden met at the Winter Olympics in Cortina on Friday, tempers became frayed.

The Swedes believed one of the Canadians was repeatedly double-touching some of his stones - releasing the handle at the appropriate time but then giving the stone another little prod with his finger to correct its course.

Sweden skip Niklas Edin raised it with the officials between the second and third ends and the row quietly simmered away as the contest unfolded.

Then, going into the last end, irritation turned to anger. Gestures were made before Canada's Marc Kennedy and Sweden's Oskar Eriksson began swearing at each other across the sheet.

"I don't like being accused of cheating after 25 years on tour and four Olympic Games," said Kennedy. "So I told him [Eriksson] where to stick it.

"He might have been upset that he was losing..."

Canada went on to win 8-6, leaving the 2022 gold medal-winning Swedish rink without a win in their first three games.

Each stone has a sensor on it to ensure players release their grip on the handle before the thick green line that runs across the ice, known as the hog line.

If they do, the sensor flashes green. If not, a red light shows.

Kennedy's stone showed green, but Eriksson and his Swedish team-mates thought they saw the Canadian give his throw an extra push with his finger after letting the handle go. The video evidence appears to back that up.

But, as BBC Sport curling commentator Steve Cram asked former world champion Jackie Lockhart, is it actually cheating and does it make a difference?

"You should not be touching the stone after you've released it," Lockhart said. "If you touch it with a broom, it's burned and removed.

"He's released that stone, then poked it with his finger – I'm not sure why. Is it to push it a little bit harder because he felt he didn't give it enough?"

But will anything come of it? It appears not.

When the teams came off the ice, they would have signed a declaration saying they are happy with the result.

And World Curling confirmed on Saturday that "touching the granite of the stone" is not allowed and that once the issue was brought to the umpire's attention, officials were positioned at the hog line to monitor throws for three ends - as per protocol.

No violations were observed, they added, so no action will be taken. However the governing body will have officials monitoring for breaches during the rest of the competition.

But what will this mean for the Canadians - who are considered medal contenders and have won their first three matches - in the rest of the Games?

"The question we should be asking is if Oskar is challenging him, has he [Kennedy] done it before?" Lockhart added. "Have they been doing it at other Championships and now they're being called out on it?

"I'm a bit disappointed with the Canadians if that's what they're doing. We'll all be looking now."