Skiing Regulatory Body Rips Viral Olympic Ski Jump Cheating Rumor, 'Pure Hearsay'

The International Ski Federation (FIS) pushed back at a recent report regarding ski jumpers attempting to enhance their performance by manipulating their ski-suit sizing.

"This wild rumor started off a few weeks ago from pure hearsay," FIS spokesman Bruno Sassi said Friday, per Brian Melley of the Associated Press. "There has never been any indication, let alone evidence, that any competitor has ever made use of a hyaluronic acid injection to attempt to gain a competitive advantage."

The situation started with a report from the German tabloid Bild in January.

The report "suggested some ski jumpers were injecting hyaluronic acid in their genitals or wearing a condom-like sheath before undergoing rigorous checks on ski-suit sizing," per Melley. "The newspaper said the manipulation would justify wearing a larger ski jump suit that could provide more lift and a longer flight to capture medals."

While the report didn't generate much international attention at first, that changed when World Anti-Doping Agency Director General Olivier Niggli commented.

"If anything was to come to the surface, we would look at anything and if it is doping related. We don't do other means of enhancing performance," Niggli said.

Melley noted this comes after Norway head coach Magnus Brevik, assistant coach Thomas Lobben and staff member Adrian Livelten were all banned from the sport for 18 months following a cheating scandal that saw team leaders manipulating ski suits on camera.

What's more, ski jumpers Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang were suspended for three months as a result of the scandal.

Another fallout of the scandal was more rigorous testing from the FIS, including 3-D measurements to make sure the athletes better fit their uniforms.

Philip Buckingham of The Athletic explained that injections could "give the ski jumpers bigger genitalia at the point their suits are measured by 3D scanner.

"Temporarily enhanced measurements would theoretically mean athletes being given a bigger, looser suit and, like a sail catching wind, could allow them to make longer jumps. Research from the scientific journal, Frontiers, published last October said that a 2cm change in a suit represented an extra 5.8 metres in the length of a jump."

The first medal of the ski jumping competitions in the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics is scheduled to be given out Saturday during the women's normal hill individual contest.