united states team

Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy — Team USA curler Korey Dropkin tells News themezone the call “Double tap” controversy that has captivated audiences in the midst of the 2026 Winter Olympics is “bigger than necessary.” The American silver medalist defended his curling teammates caught in the media storm over the alleged fraud.

Dropkin, who helped win a silver medal for the United States last week in mixed doubles curling, told News themezone on Tuesday that it was “unfortunate” that the incident fueled so much Olympic controversy, as he does not believe cheating occurred.

The Olympic curling committee intervened after a heated on-ice dispute sparked by Sweden’s curling team accusing their Canadian opponents of cheating during a matchup on Friday.

Veteran Canadian curler Marc Kennedy was offended by Swedish rival Oskar Eriksson’s accusation that he had performed a “double touch” (making contact again with the granite rock after it broke free to slide down the ice) during Canada’s 8-6 victory. Kennedy swore during a heated exchange and denied breaking any rules.

Olympic officials added referees to monitor subsequent releases, but the sport does not use video replays to review game decisions, and World Curling said after the incident that “decisions made during a game are final.”

“Over the last few seasons, there really have been a lot of athletes who have done this, and it hasn’t really been mentioned,” Dropkin said. “There are many Olympic athletes who have done the double tap of pimples.”

World Curling issued a statement clarifying that touching the granite portion of the stones is not permitted and would result in the stone being removed from the game.

In the days following the incident, Canada’s Rachel Homan and Team GB’s Bobby Lammie had stones removed from the game for similar infractions.

Dropkin downplayed the impact of athletes scraping granite on the stones behind the pig line, explaining that it could be part of a habit that predated the ban on the practice in the sport.

“I think it’s been difficult for some of the athletes” who have been in the sport for years, Dropkin told News themezone. “Honestly, they’re athletes I look up to, athletes I’ve watched and admired for years.”

He acknowledged that “some foul language was used, which probably wasn’t necessary,” but said Kennedy was “one of the greatest curlers of all time and he plays by the rules. He’s been one of the guys I’ve looked up to my entire life. To see him as a cheating individual in the sport of curling, in my opinion, is just not right.”

Several other Olympic curlers have also come forward to argue that double-tapping does not necessarily reveal any nefarious intent, and that penalizing a quick, accidental rub of the stone could be an overreach.

Swiss curler Alina Paetz described it as a minor infraction and acknowledged that it is “not allowed,” but said the uproar over last week’s incident seemed “a little bigger than it really is.”

“It’s the Olympics, there’s excitement in it,” he told The News. “I don’t think it’s a big deal.”