The Big Canada-Sweden Curling Beef, Explained

As a sport most people pay intense attention to for two weeks every four years and then not at all the rest of the time, curling can be slightly impenetrable to the casual viewer; its intricacies and shibboleths even more so. As the cheating brouhaha between Sweden and Canada enters Day 3, we thought it would be useful to answer some questions you might have over this icy scandal.

What happened?

On Feb. 13, Canada defeated Sweden 8-6 in a men's team round-robin match. The round-robin matches determine who gets into the medal rounds. Early in the game, Sweden accused Canada's curlers of "double-touching" their stones after they'd passed the hog line, and asked officials to keep an eye on the Canadians for further violations. In response, Canada petulantly asked officials to monitor the Swedes for illegal shots as well.