Canadian curler Marc Kennedy claims he and his teammates were a part of an elaborate trap to make it look like they were cheating.

During a Feb. 13 match, Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson said that Kennedy illegally “double-touched” the stone. This claim was later backed up by video evidence. Kennedy cursed out Eriksson on TV for these allegations, and now claims they were set up by Team Sweden. 

>SLIDESHOW: 50 MOST-INFAMOUS ATHLETE MUGSHOTS & THE STORIES BEHIND THEM!

In curling, athletes slide a 40-pound granite stone toward a circular target called “the house.” After initial release, teammates use brushes to control the stone’s trajectory to get it as close to the middle as possible.

The athlete releasing the stone may touch it only once. If caught touching it twice, the stone is removed from play. There is a line called the “hog line” where the athlete must remove the stone from their hands. It’s also a violation not to release the stone from your hands before passing the hog line. 

There were 147 curling matches scheduled between men’s, women’s and mixed events. Sweden took the gold medal, the United States took the silver medal, and Italy took home the bronze medal in front of their home fans in the mixed event.

Italy and Sweden were expected to do well in curling. Both teams won medals in the mixed event at the 2022 Winter Olympics. However, the United States upset China to power their surprise silver medal win in the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The women’s gold medal game is on Feb. 22.

Officials from the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) found violations in the suits of Olympic skiers Marcus Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang in 2025.

Their suits were found to have an extra centimeter of fabric in the crotch area. The FIS regulates that ski jumpers must wear tight-fitting suits that are no larger than four centimeters larger than their body measurements. Research has shown that adding just a centimeter of fabric to the crotch area can increase flight distance by nine feet. 

Lindvik and Forfang both represent Norway in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Several Norwegian coaches have received 18-month suspensions from international skiing and snowboarding competitions, including the Olympics.

Lindvik and Forfang have been cleared for competition for Milan.  

There’s been a history of cheating in skiing since at least the 1970s. Austrian suit designers made suits that allowed less air to pass through. The FIS quickly passed regulations on this practice, but Austria and several other countries still tried to make these suit modifications. 

Suit measurement regulations were previously handled manually. American skier Ben Berend said this process was extremely awkward, saying a metal rod moved up throughout the athlete’s body, including the athlete’s crotch area.

In 2023, the FIS began allowing 3D scanners to perform measurements. However, to prevent cheating, they also started doing “visual crotch area inspections.” These inspections are done by neutral doctors or nurses. 

Jens Weissflog, a former German Olympic champion, called suit manipulation “doping, but with a different needle.” 

The FIS hired new equipment control coordinators and implemented other reforms in response to this scandal.

Lindvik competed in three events in the 2026 Winter Olympics. He helped Norway finish with a silver medal in the ski jumping mixed team event. Forfang has competed in two events so far, men’s normal hill individual ski jumping and men’s large hill individual ski jumping.

Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych will not be allowed to compete in the Winter Olympics after refusing to remove a helmet that honors fallen Ukrainian athletes. 

Heraskevych received a last-minute request from the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation to not wear the helmet. Despite the International Olympic Committee showing willingness to make concessions, Heraskevych refused to compete without the helmet. Heraskevych received notice of his ineligibility just 45 minutes before the competition started. 

On Feb. 22, 2022, Russia launched an invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Russia hoped for a quick invasion, but Ukraine was able to hold Russian forces until NATO supplies arrived. This sparked a nearly four-year stalemate in which neither side has gained any form of advantage. In 2022, Ukraine implemented a mandatory military draft for men aged 25 to 60. Many Olympic athletes were forced onto the battlefield. Heraskevych’s helmet honored around 20 athletes who had died in battle.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky defended Heraskevych on an X post. 

“Sport shouldn’t mean amnesia, and the Olympic movement should help stop wars, not play into the hands of aggressors,” Zelensky said.

In skeleton, competitors race head-first and face-down in a small sled down an icy track. Athletes get a running start on their sled. They maneuver using subtle body movements.   

The first two matches (called heats in skeleton) happened on Feb. 12. Matt Weston of Team Great Britain won both heats. The men’s final two heats will happen on Feb. 13. After the final two heats, medals will be awarded based on the combined time of the four heats. 

Debuting in the 2026 Winter Olympics is a mixed skeleton event. This event will allow the top men and women skeleton athletes to compete against each other. Women still have their separate four-heat event for skeleton as well. 

Jordan Stolz of Team USA set a new record in the 2026 Winter Olympics in the 1,000-meter speedskating event.

He finished the event in just 1:06.28. This is 1 second faster than the previous Olympic record. He also holds the world record, set at the World Championships in 2024. 

Stolz is just 21 years old. He was just five years old during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Stolz saw Apolo Anton Ohno and Shani Davis of Team USA compete in a speedskating event, which piqued Stolz’s interest. Ohno won bronze medals in the 1,000-meter and 5,000-meter relay events. Davis took home a gold medal in the 1,000-meter event and a silver medal in the 1,500 -meter event. 

As a child, Stolz set records in the 500-meter, 1,000-meter, 1,500-meter and mini combination events. The mini combination event combines jumping with cross-country. 

Along with his adult record in the 1,000-meter event, he also holds the record in the big combination event. The big combination event is just like the mini one, with a mix of jumping and cross-country. However, competitors need to jump higher and skate further. 

The “Adelskalender” ranks speedskaters based on their career accomplishments. This system currently has Stolz ranked first with 143.897 points. In this ranking, the lower your score, the better. The closest speedskater to Stolz is Patrick Roest of the Netherlands, who has a 143.985 rating.

Stolz still has to compete in the 500-meter, 1,500-meter, and mass-start events. In the mass start event, all 24 speedskaters start at the exact same time and complete 16 laps in the race. Some have compared this event to NASCAR if NASCAR were on snowy mountains.

From credit card fraud to a gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Julia Simon has turned her life around completely.

Simon won the gold medal in the 15-kilometer individual biathlon event. This event combines cross-country skiing with precision rifle shooting. Simon represents Team France.

In October 2025, Simon was found guilty of using teammate Justine Braisaz-Bouchet’s credit card to make purchases totaling more than 2,000 euros ($2,300). She received a three-month prison sentence and was fined 15,000 euros ($17,800). 

The French Ski Federation suspended her for six months. This suspension was pushed back by five months so that she’d still be eligible for the Olympics. 

Simon finished in 21st place in the 15-kilometer individual biathlon event in the 2022 Winter Olympics. She won a silver medal in the mixed relay biathlon event. This event has men and women on the same team, with tags between teammates throughout the event. 

Team France also won this event in 2026, with Simon once again participating in the mixed relay. 

She also competed for Team France in the women’s relay event in the 2022 Olympics. Simon and Bouchet, along with Anais Bescond and Anais Chevalier-Bouchet, finished in sixth place. The two Bouchets are not related.

Lou Jeanmonnot won a silver Medal in the 15-kilometer biathlon event at the 2026 Winter Olympics for Team France. Lora Hristova of Team Bulgaria took home the bronze medal.  

Simon will compete in the 12.5-kilometer mass start event on Feb. 21. In this event, competitors start at the same time and ski and shoot while watching their opponents’ progress. Simon finished sixth in this event at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Skier Lindsey Vonn was diagnosed with a broken leg after a fall during the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Vonn’s body struck a gate while she was attempting her first big jump of the Olympics. Her right ski clipped the gate during her jump, which caused her to lose control and crash. She was only 13 seconds into her race. 

The race was put on hold. Vonn was put on a stretcher and airlifted by helicopter to a local hospital. The race stopped for nearly 20 minutes due to Vonn’s injury. 

The U.S. Ski & Snowboarding social media accounts put out a statement saying Vonn was in good condition. Both Team USA physicians and local Italian physicians helped tend to her injury.

Vonn, 41, would’ve been the oldest woman to ever medal in skiing. She won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games. 

Vonn had suffered a torn ACL just nine days before. This was in Switzerland during her last scheduled race before the Olympics. She had done two successful practice runs of the Olympic course leading up to the event. 

Breezy Johnson avenged her Team USA teammate by winning the gold medal. Johnson was the second woman to win a gold medal in skiing for the U.S., joining Vonn. 

Meanwhile, hometown hero Sofia Goggia won the bronze medal for Team Italy. This was the third straight time Goggia has won a skiing medal at the Olympics. 

Women’s cross-country skiing and alpine skiing are scheduled for Feb. 10. The cross-country skiing event relies more on endurance rather than speed. Alpine skiing goes strictly downhill and requires stiffer boots. Alpine skiing is the kind of skiing you generally find at ski resorts in the United States and Canada. It’s an easy form of skiing to understand but can be hard to master.

The United States Department of Homeland Security has announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will accompany the U.S. team to the Winter Olympics in Italy.

The DHS said this is to mitigate the risk of attacks from transnational criminal organizations. Despite this, Italian officials are seeking clarification of ICE’s possible role in the Winter Olympics, and may be denied entry.

“Bringing to Milan a militia which distinguished itself, this is not my opinion, with criminal acts, which kill, which enters in the homes of American citizens without authorization,” Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said, “I do not think that that is a good idea.”

Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE, was part of the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, they mostly shared security practices with Paris officials to ensure the safety of all participants. 

Every nation is allowed to bring in security forces from their country to protect their athletes. However, any matter of public order may only be dealt with by home country officials. 

ICE has been at the center of recent protests in the U.S. ICE has recently killed two American citizens. The use of ICE has increased during the Trump administration.

This has led some to believe ICE is too dangerous to be brought abroad. ICE agents are one of the few government law enforcement agencies that do not require a college degree. The training time has also been cut in half during the Trump administration.

Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expected to be in attendance for the start of the games on Feb. 6. Vance receives protection from the Secret Service, while Rubio is protected by the Diplomatic Security Service. The games are scheduled from February 6 to 22. 

Mikaela Shiffrin’s awful Beijing Olympics continued Thursday, as the U.S. skier suffered a third did-not-finish (DNF).

Shiffrin arrived at the Winter Olympics looking to win a third consecutive gold, but, after prior course mishaps, the 26-year-old has sustained 60% of her career DNFs at the National Alpine Skiing Centre this month.

After failing to finish in her favorite events—slalom and giant slalom, in which she won gold in 2014 and 2015—earlier in Beijing, she said she had no intentions of skiing safe so as just to finish.

“It was not actually that much to ask for from myself, and I was starting to do it, and then I was out anyway,” Shiffrin said. “I don’t really understand it, and I’m not sure when I’m going to have much of an explanation. I can’t explain to you how frustrated I am to not know what I can learn from today.”

Despite her disappointing (thus far) Olympics, Shiffrin started well in the combined event, placing fifth in the downhill course to put her within range of a podium finish heading into the decisive slalom run.

“I finally felt I could really trust my instincts in the track,” Shiffrin said after her downhill run.

“The most disappointing thing, beyond walking away from the Games with no individual medals … is that I had multiple opportunities to ski slalom on this track, and I failed in all of them.

“That’s disappointing for me, it’s disappointing for my whole team, for the coaches, for everybody who’s been working so hard, and it’s disappointing for anybody back home who woke up and thought, especially today, ‘Hey, she did a pretty good downhill run, set up pretty well for the slalom.’

“Right now, I just feel like a joke.”

She said she’ll be back on the slopes tomorrow to practice for her final shot at a medal in Saturday’s mixed team event, wherein she will become only the second woman to race all six alpine skiing events at the Winter Olympics.

“There’s going to be a whole chaotic mess of crap that people are saying about how I just fantastically failed these last couple of weeks in the moments that actually counted,” Shiffrin said. “It’s really strange, but I’m not even afraid of that right now, and maybe it’s because I don’t have any emotional energy to give any more.”

Swiss skier Michelle Gisin eventually took gold in the alpine combined, roaring back from 12th after the downhill course to clinch gold ahead of compatriot Wendy Holdener, who got silver.

Italy’s Federica Brignone took bronze, while Czech star Ester Ledecká placed fourth—dashing her hopes of a second gold medal (snowboarding giant slalom).

In the middle of heavy banned-substance hubbub, Russia’s Kamila Valieva Thursday turned in her worst performance of the games. Valieva fell several times and finished fourth in the women’s free skate competition.

The 15-year-old fell on two quad attempts while also losing balance in at least four other instances.

Her country-mates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova won gold and silver medals, respectively. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto took the bronze.

On Monday, she was cleared to continue competing at the Winter Olympics. However, regardless of her finish, Valieva nor any of her teammates will see a medal ceremony, despite the fact that they’d be recognized as the winners.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport cleared Valieva to continue taking part after a hearing during which judges ruled that Valieva isn’t going to be suspended for the positive test.

Valieva tested positive on Christmas Day for the drug trimetzidine—typically a heart condition drug. However, the Swedish lab didn’t release the results until after the Games had already begun.

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are underway. In case you missed any of Day 2’s action, below is a comprehensive roundup of the second day’s events.

– The second day of the Winter Olympics brought Team USA its first two medals of the Games (slopestyle snowboarding; moguls).

– The U.S. women’s hockey team made short work of Switzerland with an 8-0 shellacking, giving the Americans two straight games without allowing a goal.

– Jakara Anthony won Australia’s first Winter Olympics gold since 2010. American Jaelin Kauf and the ROC’s Anastasia Smirnova take silver and bronze, respectively.

–  Julia Marino put together arguably her career-best Run 2 with a cab double underflip 900 and a frontside double 1080 to claim snowboard slopestyle silver and Team USA’s first medal of the 2022 Games.

– Now a two-time Olympian, U.S. figure skater Karen Chen made her Olympic team event debut with the women’s short program segment, finishing fifth with a score of 65.20.

– American snowboarders Sean FitzSimons, Red Gerard and Chris Corning placed third, fifth, and 11th, respectively, in qualifying to advance to the final in slopestyle—with Gerard being the defending gold medalist.

– When moguls skier Kai Owens makes her Olympic debut in Beijing, it will be “the most full circle full circle.” She was born in China and adopted at 16 months by parents in the U.S.

– 2018 Olympic snowboard slopestyle champion Red Gerard discusses his hair, his famous sister, and the sport of snowboarding.

Belgian Olympian Kim Meylemans has been released from isolation in Beijing after pleading for help due to her treatment ahead of the games.

The 25-year-old skeleton racer was forced into isolation after she tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival in the Chinese capital.

Mistakenly thinking she could return to the Olympic Village after three days of isolation and two consecutive negative tests, she was instead taken to a separate government facility. Fighting back tears, she said she may never get to enter the Olympic Village.

Hours after her cries for help Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) intervened and secured her release.

“I am now in a wing that is just isolation, but at least I am back in the village,” Meylemans said on Instagram. “I feel safe and I’ll be able to train a little better here.”

Meylemans said she tested negative a dozen times prior to her departure and was miffed by her positive result.

Meylemans’ story is one of many highlighting the strict measures in China—one of the few places continuing to adhere to a zero-COVID policy.

Another measure is the “Closed Loop System”—a bubble housing all the games completely cut off from the rest of the city and its wider population.

Anyone inside testing positive will be immediately removed; symptomatic patients will be sent to a designated hospital, while asymptomatic people will be taken to isolation. Their bubble return won’t be allowed until all symptoms disappear and they consecutively test negative.

Some positive-testing athletes have given up any hope of competing.

Russian Olympic Committee’s biathlete Valeria Vasnetsova said her hopes were dashed after two positive tests on her Beijing arrival. American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor was also forced into isolation after testing positive for the virus two days after her arrival last week.

“This is just the latest obstacle that my family and I have faced on this journey, so I’m remaining optimistic that I’ll be able to recover quickly and still have the opportunity to compete,” the latter said.

Overall, there have been more than 280 COVID cases—102 of which coming from athletes and team officials—coming from inside the (alleged) closed loop.

On Tuesday, the State Department said the Biden Administration is consulting with allies about a joint approach to China, its human rights record, and how to handle the Bejing Winter Olympics.

At first, the department suggested an Olympic boycott protest was one way to go about it, but later a senior official said that it has not yet been discussed. Said official told ESPN that the United States’ position has not changed, but the administration has been consistently speaking with allies about common concerns about China. Department spokesperson Ned Price said the consultations were being held to present a united front.

Price also declined to comment on when a decision on the Olympics might be made but noted there is still almost a year until it is set to begin. The Bejing Winter Olympics opens on February 4, 2022, and China has denied all charges of human rights abuses. It says “political motives” underlie the boycott effort.

Rights groups have gathered at the International Olympic Committee and have been told the Olympic body must stay politically “neutral.” The IOC has told them that China has given “assurances” about human rights conditions. In the past, both the IOC and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee have said they oppose boycotts.

IOC president Thomas Bach said in March that history shows boycotts never achieve anything. “It also has no logic,” he said. “Why would you punish the athletes from your own country if you have a dispute with a government from another country. This just makes no sense.”

The USOPC also commented, “We oppose Game boycotts because they have been shown to negatively impact athletes while not effectively addressing global issues.”

Since there is so much time until the 2022 Bejing Winter Olympics are set to commence, it will be interesting to see how things play out.