World Curling returns to less stringent officiating after talks with NOCs

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy -- World Curling on Sunday rowed back on its decision to ramp up officiating at the Winter Olympics after allegations of cheating, saying officials would now actively monitor for violations only at the request of teams.

On Friday, Sweden's men's team accused Canadian curlers of double touching stones, triggering a heated clash between players and a subsequent media frenzy.

In response, World Curling initially said the remainder of the Olympic competition would have officials monitoring the hog line, the point where curlers must let go during delivery, but it changed its stance on Sunday after talks with National Olympic Committees.

Since the officials were set on the hog line on Saturday, Canada women's skip Rachel Homan and British men's curler Bobby Lammie have had stones removed from play due to alleged violations.

Homan on Saturday slammed the officials' decision to remove her stone during a defeat to Switzerland, saying it was "insane."

"Following a meeting with representatives of the competing National Olympic Committees, an update in the stone monitoring protocol has been confirmed, beginning with the evening session on Sunday 15 February," World Curling said in a statement.

"This change in protocol will see the two umpires who had previously been actively monitoring athlete deliveries remain available in the field of play, but will now only monitor athlete deliveries at the request of the competing teams."

The system appears similar to the previous method of monitoring violations, in which umpires would be set at the hog line to observe deliveries for three ends if there was a complaint from either team.

--Reuters, special to Field Level Media