Curling Conflict and Behavioral Preferences at the Winter Games

The 2026 Winter Games have come and gone. In a time of drastic political turmoil, the games are a source of positive sportsmanship and national pride. The past few weeks in Italy have left behind a flurry of viral moments and emotional stories. My favorites were Poland’s beloved figure-skating pierogi mascot, the shocking admission of cheating in his relationship by Norwegian skier Sturla Holm Lægreid, and the USA Men’s national team honoring the late Johnny Gaudreau in their gold celebration. Those minor viral moments are just a couple of the cultural touchpoints from the event that dominated the social cycles from the opening to the closing ceremonies.

One of the biggest viral moments of the games came from an unlikely source, Curling. The laid-back sport often attracts little media attention. That changed with a heated conflict at this year’s event. Insults and expletives flew after Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian curler Marc Kennedy of double-touching the stone. Eriksson suggested Kennedy made illegal contact with the granite stone after releasing it. Things only got more intense after the Swedish team released photos and videos of the alleged cheating. This was caught on a camera they had installed specifically to catch the act. Curling does not typically place a camera at the angle where the alleged offense occurred.

In an article for The Curling Times, Olympian Tomi Rantamaki wrote that with Canada’s dominance over the sport, “Young players in Finland, Korea, Italy, Sweden – everywhere – often copy what Canadian teams do. They copy the athlete’s delivery, the sweeping, the tactics, the communication, and they copy the behaviour.” When we take a cultural intelligence lens to what happened, a few behavioral preferences really stood out.

Uncertainty Avoidance

Curling mostly works on an honor system. Until the initial controversy with Sweden and Canada, most matches at this year’s games did not have an official watching the release of the stone. Most sports are high in uncertainty avoidance. They feature multiple officials and video replay to ensure everything is by the rules 100%. Curling’s honor system is lower in uncertainty avoidance, allowing for more wiggle room. The self-governing nature of the sport also creates a major need for psychological safety. As athletes need to feel, they can speak about concerns without fear of exclusion.

Direct Communication

At the event, Team Sweden went straight to Team Canada face-to-face. They laid out the specific allegations and later released their evidence to directly call out their opponent. If, after the event, the Swedish curling team alluded to a team possibly gaining an unfair advantage, that would be indirect communication.

Expressive Communication

Both sides of the conflict were also expressive rather than neutral in their responses. Things get heated in sports, especially when on the largest stage. It is understandable that both were expressive in their expletive-filled responses to the conflict. The following day, Canadian curler Marc Kennedy added more context to his expressive response, “ I probably could have handled it better. But we’re human out there, and there are a lot of emotions. I’m not going to apologise for defending my teammates and standing up for myself.”

The ability to recorganize and adapt to behavioral preferences is key to Cultural Intelligence communication. We only explored a few of the key behavioral preferences in this piece. To learn more about the 10 Key Behavioral Preferences and to assess your own, try our Behavioral Preferences Profile.