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‘Burned rock’ foul causes rare stir at Olympic curling

GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) — A rare moment of controversy in the typically ultra-polite sport of curling erupted Friday over a foul known as a “burned rock” in the Canada vs. Denmark women’s match.

The drama unfolded in the fifth end, or period, of the already tense game, when a Danish player touched a stone that was in motion. That is a foul called a “burned rock.”

When burned rocks occur, the opposing team has three choices: They can ignore the foul, rearrange the stones to whatever position they think they would have ended up if the stone hadn’t been touched, or remove the stone from play.