sports

Double‑Touch Rule Sparks Chaos at Olympic Curling

A heated exchange over a suspected double‑touch release between Canada’s Marc Kennedy and Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson prompted World Curling to deploy two umpires per sheet to monitor hog‑line releases, resulting in the removal of stones for Canada’s Rachel Homan and Great Britain’s Bobby Lammie.

A dispute erupted when Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson accused Canada’s Marc Kennedy of double‑touching a stone past the hog line during a Friday match. Officials saw no violation, but the tension escalated into a heated exchange at the ninth‑end break.

In response, World Curling announced that two umpires would rotate across all four sheets to watch hog‑line releases for the rest of the Games. The new rule led to the removal of a stone from play for Canada’s Rachel Homan in the first end and for Great Britain’s Bobby Lammie in the ninth end.