Ahead of this week’s Opening Ceremony at the Winter Olympics in Milan, the World Anti-Doping Agency has addressed claims originating from a German tabloid that male skiers could be injecting themselves with hyaluronic acid in private areas to gain an athletic advantage in competition.
Crotch size manipulation is apparently something utilized as a benefit in the aerodynamics scope so that 3D scanned measurements used to assess athletes’ suit sizes would be larger than normal, according to German newspaper Bild. The newspaper claimed athletes were putting the acid into their penises for enhancement.
In ski jumping events, suit size — in this case, larger — is considered advantageous.Â
“I am not aware of the details of ski jumping, and how that could improve performance,” WADA director general Olivier Niggli said at a press conference this week. “If anything was to come to the surface, we would look at it and see if it is doping related. We don’t address other [non-doping] means of enhancing performance.”
Suits must conform to an athlete’s body and are fitted before the start of every jumping season.
“Every extra centimeter on a suit counts,” Sandro Pertile, race director for the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), said in 2024. “If your suit has a 5% bigger surface area, you fly further.”
Last August, two Olympic gold medalist ski jumpers and three staffers on the Norway men’s team were charged with ethics violations after “equipment manipulation” following an investigation stemming from a March incident. The Norway team were reportedly caught on video adding stitching into the crotch area of their suits to make them bigger and thus, more aerodynamic during competition.
Per the BBC, Norway coach Magnus Brevik and equipment manager Adrian Livelten admitted the suits were altered prior to the team’s participation in the large hill event.
“We regret it like dogs, and I’m terribly sorry that this happened,” Brevik said.
