Team Canada decided to let the performance speak for them in men’s curling. Amid the ‘cheating’ controversy that affected the morale of several team members, especially Marc Kennedy, the Canadian men’s team clinched the gold medal by defeating Team Great Britain 9-6.
Now, skipper Brad Jacobs has come out in the open to celebrate this victory and also defend Kennedy. Jacobs revealed that Team Canada was determined to prove critics wrong by winning the gold medal.
Brad Jacobs Backs Marc Kennedy After Golden Finish at Winter Olympics
In his conversation with the media after winning the gold medal at the current Olympics, Jacobs called out the critics for allegedly demoralizing the Canadian team over the cheating allegations, especially Kennedy. Jacobs mentioned in the post-match press conference,
“I’ll guarantee you that only motivated us further to go out and prove to everyone that we’re the best team, and now (we’re) at the top of the podium, I would say the best team in the world. Canada and curling in Canada is special to us. It means a lot to us. Integrity means a lot to us. We wanted to go out there and prove everyone wrong and rise to the top of the podium.”
Jacobs praised Kennedy’s demeanor in the face of online hatred, as he added further in the post-match conference,
“Marc’s mind is sealed. Most athletes, if they had to go through what Marc Kennedy went through, what we went through as a team here, it would have crippled them and it would have crumbled most teams. But Marc’s done a lot of self-improvement and just surrounded himself with us and the support that we gave him, his family gave him this week, our coaches.”
Jacobs also took another swipe at the ‘cheating’ allegations as he further added,
“For anyone who called us cheaters … I hope that the image of us standing on top of the podium, embracing one another, smiling ear to ear with our gold medals is burned into your brain forever.”
For the uninitiated, Kennedy was accused of manhandling the curling equipment during the match against Sweden, the former champions. Kennedy got into a verbal brawl with the Swedish players, following which both teams were issued a verbal warning by the local authorities.
Kennedy was subject to online trolling and hate-mongering following the ugly spat between Team Canada and Team Sweden. While he didn’t officially apologize, he admitted that he could’ve handled the issue better.
