Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson won’t let go of his Olympic feud with Team Canada

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Can’t get enough of the Olympic curling drama? You’re in luck, because neither can some of the reigning champions.

The Canada-Sweden curling feud, which began at the Milan Cortina Winter Games in February, has been reignited after Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson demonstrated in a recent video how “double-touching” a stone can alter its path.

Here’s everything you need to know about this continuing curling scandal.

How did the curling controversy start?

In the men’s curling round robin of the Winter Games on Feb. 13, Brad Jacobs’ Canadian squad faced off against Sweden’s Niklas Edin. During that game, Eriksson, the vice on Edin’s team, accused Marc Kennedy, the vice on Team Jacobs, of double-touching rocks after releasing them. Double-touching is when a player releases their grip on the rock, but then makes contact with the stone again to redirect its path.

Kennedy was heard on the live feed cursing at Eriksson after the accusation. Video footage from Kennedy’s release, as well as the altercation between the two teams, went viral on social media during the Games and sparked hundreds of memes.

“I have a ton of respect for Oskar Eriksson. He’s one of the best players to ever play, and I just told him that I would never do that to you. I would never accuse you of cheating,” Kennedy said after the game. “I’ve been on tour for 25 years. He pulled a hog line official on us to make sure that we weren’t double-touching. A hog line official was there for six ends, never said anything.”

Canada has gone full villain in curling

What are the rules about double-touching?

In curling, players must release the rock completely before crossing the closest hog line. The hog line dictates the playing areas – where the rock must be released at the near end of the ice, and the area where the rocks can come to a stop on the far end. A rock that is touched between the hog lines by either a player or a broom must be removed from play. If a stone is touched while it is in motion, after it is past the far hog line, the opposing team can place the rock where they believe it would have stopped.

The World Curling rulebook states that “a double touch by the person delivering the stone, prior to the hog line at the delivering end, is not considered a violation.” The sport’s governing body announced it found no violations recorded while umpires observed the players’ deliveries. Kennedy later said that he regretted using the expletive, but that he had nothing to apologize for after being accused of cheating.

Curling is considered a gentleman’s sport, with much of the onus on the players for calling out infractions. Officials don’t use video replay to view previous shots, and umpires are not involved in the game unless accusations of cheating occur. The umpires will then observe the players for three ends to see if any instances reappear.

The Canadians won the controversial Feb. 13 game against the Swedes 8-6. Jacobs’ team went on to win the gold medal against Great Britain, and Sweden finished the tournament tied for last, with a record of 2-7.

What was the reaction from the public?

The incident at the Olympics – colloquially known as “fingergate” – went viral online. Some social media users superimposed curling rocks onto famous works of art, or inserted the clip of Kennedy’s release into other Olympic sports using AI, amassing hundreds of thousands of likes.

How was the feud reignited?

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Sveriges Television AB – the Swedish national public broadcaster – posted a news segment video on March 27 featuring Eriksson. The clip showed the Swedish curler demonstrating how a player could have altered the path of the rock by poking it, noting that the stone could move five centimetres with a simple touch.

Eriksson argued in the video that Kennedy committed two violations: retouching the stone after releasing, and touching it after the hog line.

“Evil unfortunately wins sometimes,” Eriksson said in Swedish, per the English captioning of the video. “And I’m not taking anything away from the fact that they are good curlers either. But I wish they had just chosen to play the same way that all the other teams try to do.”

What is the reaction from Canadian curlers?

Jacobs, the skip of the Canadian Olympic team, voiced his frustration that the controversy was still being discussed.

“I think it’s just ridiculous that this is still going on and that they would put together a video like that ... that’s just ridiculous, in my opinion, that that occurred,” Jacobs said on Monday after a Rock League game.

“I know that it’s not something I’m too happy about right now. I have nothing good to say about Oskar Eriksson, or that entire team, or the Swedish curling federation right now, so I’m not going to say anything at all.”

Eriksson defended the video on Monday, and noted that the other Canadian men’s curling teams had been friendly with Team Edin.

“This poor fella cant handle last place!” Team Canada lead Ben Hebert posted on X on Monday in response to Eriksson’s segment. “It’s ok tho, when he has a bigger things in his life he will have better perspective.”

Kennedy and Team Jacobs’ second Brett Gallant have not publicly said anything about the video thus far.

Have Team Jacobs and Team Edin faced off since the Olympics?

The teams have not played against each other since the Olympic round robin. Team Jacobs did not qualify for the World Men’s Curling Championship after losing the semi-final of the 2026 Montana’s Brier – the men’s Canadian curling championship – to the eventual winners, Team Matt Dunstone. Team Edin went on to win the men’s world championship, defeating the Canadians 9-6.