The curling controversy at the Winter Olympics is not what you think

Curling ice in Winter Olympic Games It’s often full of screaming, but not like this. Last Friday, in the match that Canada won 8-6, a verbal altercation broke out between the third pitcher from each team. Near the end of the match, after the controversy over the secondary rules had reached its peak, Swede Oscar Eriksson negatively accused Canadian deputy skip Mark Kennedy of cheating. Kennedy quickly declared that he “didn’t care” and twice told Erickson to “fuck off.”

Within hours, the incident was covered by almost every major media outlet, spread on social media, and inspired dozens of people to suddenly become experts in a field. A 500-year-old Scottish sport. By the end of the weekend, they all had a full opinion on whether Kennedy had touched the curling stone after it was released, in violation of the rules. (If they didn’t have an opinion, they certainly had one.) Mimi.) Almost all of them were wrong.

I’m a four-year football player in the Thursday Night Beer League and a multiple-time D-bracket champion at the local Bonspiels. In general terms: I understand the sport and its culture but I’m certainly not an expert on how the game is played at the level the players are at. The handles have sensors. However, from Watch the tape And reading Analysis by other curlersIt seems clear that Kennedy violated the rules by touching the back of the rock after his nose touched the pig’s line. However, it is also possible that this had no effect on the outcome – the violation involves a fraction of an inch, and the hog line is 93 feet from the center of the target on the other side. A slight double tap on the rock before the hog line also appears to be the case Fairly commonas there are now video edits aimed at showing other teams, including Sweden, doing the same.

So, yes, chair curling experts have a certain point about Kennedy’s behavior on the ice. But they focus on the foul violation.

Curling has thousands of rules and customs, many of which are relatively obscure. Any club footballer who pays attention to the finer details will have bought and received many pints in bets made on the current state of the regulations. Heating ice at home or Snow plow in one fell swoop. But the first rule, which is absolutely non-negotiable, is what is called The spirit of the window: A true player never tries to distract opponents or prevent them from giving their best, and would rather lose than win unfairly. This is where this match went off the rails.

Curling is an ancient sport with a classic sense of personal honor, and it is always better to lose than for your opponent to think you won unfairly. This is not “named”, there are rules. But unlike bowling, for example, the rules begin and end with rules of polite behavior dating back to the Tudor period.

A prime example of how a simple, unintentional violation of the rules can occur earlier in these Olympics. In the doubles match between the United States and Italy, one team He accidentally kicked their stone. The opposing team trusted that the kicker would put the stone back in its place, no judges were called, and there were no cursing or accusations of cheating.

The Sweden-Canada match was completely different. For anyone who wants to delve deeper into the brawl, NBC has uploaded An excellent long version of the confrontation on YouTubewhich shows the brawl starting to heat up in the sixth end, just after the midway point of the match, before reaching its climax in the ninth end. The full version says. The Canadians go to the judges with vulgar complaints about the Swedes touching a piece of their equipment while the Canadians were preparing to throw. The Swedes go to the judges to complain about the double touch and are rejected.