PREDAZZO, Italy — The regulatory body for skiing on Friday dismissed as a “wild rumor” reports that ski jumpers are enhancing their groin area to gain distance as the Winter Olympics begins.
A report by the German tabloid Bild last month 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. 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.
The report gained international attention this week after World Anti-Doping officials, in Milan for the 2026 Winter Olympics, suggested they were ready to investigate the matter, if it was doping related.
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However, the international ski federation, FIS – the governing body for ski jumping – on Friday rejected the claims made in the report.
“This wild rumor started off a few weeks ago from pure hearsay,” FIS spokesman Bruno Sassi told 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 Bild report went largely unnoticed internationally until World Anti-Doping Agency Director General Olivier Niggli was asked about it in Milan on Thursday.
“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 told reporters.
The suggestion of such manipulation quickly became a media sensation with some reports offering medical experts weighing in on the wisdom of injecting the acid naturally created in the body that lubricates joints and is used in moisturizing creams.
Asked to clarify whether WADA was investigating the matter, agency spokesperson James Fitzgerald told AP on Friday that hyaluronic acid was not on its list of banned substances, and referred to FIS for issues related to ski jumping suits.
The subject is particularly sensitive for ski jumping in the wake of a cheating scandal last year in which Norwegian team leaders were caught on camera manipulating ski suits at the World Championship in Trondheim, Norway.
Head coach Magnus Brevik, assistant coach Thomas Lobben and staff member Adrian Livelten were recently banned from the sport for 18 months for tampering with the suits before the men’s large hill event.
Norwegian ski jumpers Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang accepted three-month suspensions that allowed them to compete in this season’s events.
In the wake of the scandal, FIS introduced more rigorous equipment controls that includes checks before and after each jump and improved 3-D measurements to evaluate athletes in their uniforms. Microchips embedded in suits are also designed to prevent manipulation.
