Having curled myself, I can assure you it does not…and if it did make a difference, it would almost certainly be negative, since you’re giving up any semblance of control that you had on the actual throw. There’s not going to be some “precision poke” that magically steers it where it needs to go. But don’t take my word for it.

Does it make any difference?

“No. The double-touching that I’ve seen has been incidental contact, and that’s fingers brushing or hand brushing on a 40-pound piece of granite,” said Eugene Hritzuk, a Canadian curler based in Saskatoon who has been involved in competitive curling and coaching for more than 60 years.

“What can fingers brushing against a 40-pound piece of granite do in any event? You need the palm on your hand against that stone to do anything.”

Delivering a stone entails acute skills to slide on line and on pace, he said.

Once sliding on target and at the right speed, releasing the stone and then touching it with any force would cause it to veer off its intended line and speed, Hritzuk said. “That would not be advantageous to good execution.”

Canadian curling commentator John Cullen, who hosted the CBC podcast Broomgate: A Curling Scandal, said most top curlers will say that double-touching has no effect on the stone.

As well, most top curlers will double-touch at times and don’t think it’s a foul, he said.

“The idea that a top curler would let a rock go and then want to try to adjust it with their finger —it doesn’t seem like there’s any way you could get an advantage from that. It feels like it would be worse.”

But as I said, the rules are the rules, and I don’t think it’s wrong to enforce them.

It’s strange then how this is a common strategy among cheaters in curling, and that it is exactly what the Canadian team is known for, and it is illegal to do for precisely that reason.

Yep not impressed with this display of poor sportsmanship

Its a snapshot, he could have released this handle and retracted his hand with his finger off to side of the tangent of the rock. Wed need frames before and after for better review

this is a common strategy among cheaters in curling

Very confidently stated, but I really don’t think it is.

it is illegal to do for precisely that reason.

It’s illegal because it’s way simpler to implement a “no touching” rule than to try to define game-changing and non game-changing touches in a way that would be enforceable.

And again, I have absolutely no problem with the rule being enforced, even though I don’t think for a hot second that it impacted the game.

You realize we are not in your hood

Well in the slowed video it totally looks intentional https://youtu.be/W1yh6GN5ysks

I can’t imagine why people think it wouldn’t have an effect. This is a sport where brooms have an effect. Why wouldn’t a push have an effect? And if it had no effect why do they do it?

I believe they’ve been caught three times at minimum now, and for all I know more now by today. The men’s team was caught twice and the women’s team was got once.

The rules are silent on touching the stone. They are clear about not touching the handle. I don’t disagree with you, but the granite is not the handle.

The brooms affect the ice in front of the rock, which changes the rock’s behaviour as it moves over the swept patch. You have to exert quite a bit of force to push the rock directly.

And if it had no effect why do they do it?

Sometimes by accident, I’m sure. And probably more relevant, sometimes out of sheer laziness.

I trust whatever committee they have at the Olympics to make the judgement on this, but if our team is cheating, fuck those guys.

Yes, there’s some redactionist arguments about how it “doesn’t actually impact the rock,” but fuck that. We have a codified rule that specifically says you can’t do it, and these athletes are playing at literally the highest level that exists. They know better and have had time to practice better. If they’re cheating at the Olympics, I hope it follows them forever.

I mean, fuck Hexbear, but this is in fact all over the news. I’m sure it’s posted there in an anti-west bias, but that doesn’t make it untrue, and I absolutely demand better from my country than to cheat at the Olympics.

Ah let’s be honest here… That was neither laziness nor accidental.

If it doesn’t impact the rock, then why do they risk breaking the rules to do it?

Because extreme cases can impact the rock. Barely touching the rock in the way caught on film realistically isn’t impacting the rock, but the rule needs to exist to prevent someone from actively pushing the rock after letting go.

But again, these guys know better and have had the time and resources to train better.

Look, I find extending a finger to give the stone a boop after release completely baffling…but there’s no chance at all that it affected the trajectory of the thing. You might as well “cheat” by blowing on it.

It can prevent over-rotation of the rock. He knew exactly what he was doing.

A little finger poke ain’t gonna do shit.

a slight drag will prevent over -rotation of the stone.

Regardless, it’s a fucking rule.

I have said several time that I have no problem with the rule being enforced.

a slight drag will prevent over -rotation of the stone.

I really don’t think so, especially the light touch that I’ve seen on video (which, to be fair, was Homan’s throw on the women’s side). Again, these things are damn heavy, and you’re not going to push them around with a finger without making a visible effort.