Just one day into the Olympics curling competition a bust-up is on between the ice master and the players.
Curlers from Canadian favorite Brad Gushue to the UK's defending Olympic women's champion Rhona Martin have come off the ice complaining it is not "swingy" enough and saying Swedish ice master Leif Ohman needs to sort it out.
Lack of "swing" means the 19.96kg stones travel in a straight line rather than providing the surprising curves that make the game exciting for TV audiences and players.
PHOTO: AP
"If it doesn't improve there are going to be more boring games to come," Scottish housewife Martin moaned to reporters after the UK's narrow 3-2 win over Denmark.
But ice master Ohman, who has been on the job for a quarter of a century, is having none of it.
"It doesn't have to be boring. It depends on how you play. It's easy to play a boring game," Ohman said.
Medal contenders Canada, the UK, Sweden and Norway, and Germany have all griped Ohman's ice is putting them off their game.
Ohman said he started laying it on Feb. 1 and he was working overtime to increase the friction between the stone and the "pebble" droplets on the ice surface that makes it "swing."
But Ohman said he would not be pressured to rapidly change the minus 3.8?C temperature of the sheet and ruin it.
He also refused Gushue's advice to start sandpapering the bottom of the stones to give them better grip.
"You don't do that in the middle of a competition," he said, lips pursed and shaking his head.
"I have experience enough to see how the ice is and I know what I have to change. The swing's coming soon -- slowly," he said.
Canada scored five points in the first end against the US women's curling team yesterday and coasted to a 11-5 victory that left the Americans winless after two Olympic matches. The Americans conceded after eight ends, two short of the maximum.
Cassie Johnson and her teammates will probably need to win at least five of the next seven matches to qualify for the medal round. The US was to face Japan next yesterday.
Russia scored three in the final end to beat Japan 7-5, the first game for those two countries. Britain beat Switzerland 5-4 when the Swiss couldn't put the final rock into the white center of the target.
Norway beat Sweden 10-3, but it was closer than it sounds. The Swedes trailed 6-3 in the final end and conceded when there were four opposing rocks in the target area and one throw to go.
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