Canada’s curling controversy at the Milan Cortina Olympics doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon.
A day after Canada’s men’s curling team made headlines for cursing out their opponents over cheating allegations, Canada’s Rachel Homan was penalized for a rules violation in the first end of Saturday’s round-robin loss to Switzerland—the same violation that had the Canadian men’s curling team riled up Friday night.
Homan’s first throw was pulled from play after the hog line official ruled that Homan had touched the stone again after she released it onto the ice. This is known as “double touching” and is forbidden per the curling rulebook.
Homan immediately disagreed with the call, as mics caught her fiery complaints on the broadcast: “Like, absolutely not. Zero percent chance [I double touched the rock].”
"I've never done it in my life," continued the veteran skip.
A replay of Homan’s delivery appeared to show her finger graze the stone after she released it:
She slid her finger down the rock. Certainly seems less deliberate but the finger is on the stone and not on the handle. pic.twitter.com/LHosCJK4yK
— Hasse Billing (@hassebilling) February 14, 2026
Homan and the Canadians went on to lose, 8-7, to Switzerland.
All about the Canadian curling cheating saga that’s heating up at the Winter Olympics
Homan’s rule violation is the same point of contention that sparked a heated incident in Canada’s men’s curling match against Sweden from Friday. Canadian curler Marc Kennedy was heard cursing out Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson after being accused of double touching during Canada’s 8-6 win. “You can f--- off,” Kennedy said to Eriksson.
After online footage appeared to show Kennedy touching the granite part of the stone with his finger after releasing it, the Canadian continued to maintain his innocence.
"Yes, I'm not even going there. I've never even known that to be a concern before. It's never ever come up in conversation,” Kennedy said. "And if somebody said to you, 'Hey, do you double-touch all the time?' I honestly, in that split second of a moment, I couldn't even tell you if I do or not.”
Kennedy even suggested the incident was a ploy planned by the Swedes to try to “catch teams in the act.” Both Canada and Switzerland are strong favorites to win gold in curling competitions in Milan.
In the wake of the Canada-Sweden cheating allegations, World Curling—the sport’s international governing body—sent an email to all Olympic curling teams clarifying the “proper release” of the stone and warned teams that match officials would more closely observe the delivery of the stone moving forward. Based on the rulebook, curlers must release their stone using the handle only and cannot touch the granite part of the stone once it’s been released.
More Winter Olympics on Sports Illustrated
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- Team USA Goalie Jeremy Swayman’s Ugly Mistake vs. Denmark Might Not Have Been His Fault
- Wearing Two Hats: Jordan Stolz’s Second Gold Medal Win Was a Coronation
- Live Updates From Team USA Men’s Hockey vs. Denmark: U.S. Survives Early Scare, Improves to 2–0
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mics Caught Canada’s Rachel Homan Denying Cheating Amid Olympic Curling Controversy.
