Curling-Sport faces identity crisis as cheating controversy forces rethink of regulations

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 21 : After being shaken by claims of cheating at the Winter Olympics, curling finds itself between a rock and a hard place as it looks to regulate an increasingly competitive sport while keeping alive the long-standing honour-based system it so cherishes.

Curling has always prided itself on being a sport where players call their own fouls, but when Canada were accused of cheating by Sweden in a fiery clash, the limitations of that approach were laid bare.

With players firing off expletives and accusing each other of wrongdoing, there was little officials could do except issue a post-game warning.

Even when World Curling tried to increase oversight, players complained almost immediately and questioned the training of umpires, forcing the governing body to quickly backtrack.

It was an issue the governing body was already aware of.

"We were in the process of looking at some rules, empowering our umpires. We have highly trained umpires, but their role, pursuant to our rules, is really to help players make decisions," president Beau Welling told Reuters.

"The actual power about rules and infractions are with the players. We come from a call-your-own-foul sort of culture, but we increasingly see a need to have more umpires be able to make decisions."

CULTURAL CHANGE

Welling said increasing the power of umpires was a massive cultural change that would not happen overnight.

"It's a change for athletes, who have to be willing to accept decisions," he added. 

"Umpires have to be confident to make decisions, and we've got to make sure that those decisions are accurate. It's a process for us. If anything, this might have accelerated that process."

In the chaos after the cheating scandal, Canada's Marc Kennedy, who