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By Nelson Espinal
Contributing Sports Reporter
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On Monday night, the American women's curling team was facing off against a winless Italian squad, though during the seventh end, another stone-touching incident happened.
During the first few days of curling team play, the Canadian men's and women's teams were embroiled in controversy after both were accused of "double-touching" their stones — touching the rock after releasing the handle, which is not allowed under the rules.
The second touch has not been as much of a talking point as Marc Kennedy's defensiveness, the Canadian who told off a Swedish player who accused him of the act.
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While multiple controversies have emerged, curling has been thrust into the spotlight, and in the U.S.-Italy match, two players highlighted the sport's reputation for sportsmanship.
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During the 7th end, Taylor Anderson-Heide stumbled and touched a stone, though there was initially confusion about whether contact was made.
Tabitha Peterson and Cory Thiesse, along with the rest of Team USA, decided they were likely at fault for an infraction, even though they were not entirely sure.
“We weren’t really sure what happened,” Peterson said. “Because it jumped so much, it looked like she might have kicked it, but we didn’t see or feel it.”
Rather than taking the most advantageous route, Italy, led by Stefania Constantini, opted to keep the rocks and determine where they would have gone without the USA's involvement.
“We can decide together," the Italian said at the moment, per the broadcast.
Following the match, which Italy won 7-2, Costantini explained her thought process.
“At that moment, in our view, it was important to decide together (with the opponents, so that there would be no imbalances or not-so-positive feelings,” Constantini said. “Choosing it together would have led to the fairest possible decision.”
Curling viewers praise the sportsmanship in the match
Amid all of the noise in the sport, more than a thousand users in the r/Curling Reddit community celebrated the behavior of both teams.
"The 'we can decide together' is pure class from Constantini. Honestly, an amazing example of how curling is supposed to work," a user commented.
"Maybe all these people claiming curling is a “gentleman’s sport” need to look to the ladies as an example," another said.
"This is standard in curling. Self-officiating burned stones. It's a separate issue from the whole boopgate thing, which has become heated because it's never been a thing that's been monitored or officiated prior to these games, hence the controversy," a third added.
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