SEVERAL Winter Olympics stars are pushing for video replays to be used in future curling events.
It comes after gold medalists Canada were accused of cheating during their showdown with the Swedish men’s side.
The Swedes thought they had spotted their counterparts double-touching, which is an illegal move, before they had released one of their stones.
After the controversy was fuelled by images of the incident going viral online, Team GB’s Hammy McMillan Jr was among the big names to call for video assistance to be offered in future.
The Scot, 33, said: “You bring in VAR or Hawk-Eye, and each team gets a challenge or two, so you’ve got to be dead certain that somebody did that [violation].
“I think that would be quite cool, it would maybe make curling a bit more modernised. I think video review could be the next thing, with teams getting challenges.”
World Curling responded to the cheating allegations by having two officials actively monitoring the hog line, the point where curlers have to let go of the stones.
But Luc Violette, who competed for Team USA, reckons that video reviews would take the pressure off umpires.
He said: “I think I’d like to see some more access to video. It’s such a good tool for us and you can see [violations] so much better.
“It’s hard to officiate because we always say at the release, the hand’s quicker than the eye. It really happens quite quickly.
“I think the officials are trying to do what they can with the rules in place right now, but I would like to see them be allowed to use video review.
“I definitely would love to see the sport embrace technology in as many ways as possible.”
Team USA’s Tara Peterson also feels instant replays would be handy when it comes to other incidents.
She said: “There’s some curling spaces where it’s wood on the walls. We’ve had rocks bounce off and not know where they would go.
“You can’t look at an instant replay. There’s instances where an instant replay would be huge.
“Or if somebody accidentally hits a guard with their foot, where should that be?”
Team GB agonisingly missed out on beating Canada in the men’s gold medal match.
And the 9-6 loss resulted in the Brits failing to end a 102-year wait to finish at the top of the podium in the event.
But it was Team GB’s first silver of the Winter Olympics – adding to three golds.
