World Anti-Doping Agency director general Olivier Niggli at a press conference.Credit: Getty Images
Ski-jumpers are measured before each season with a body scanner, with dimensions taken from the lowest part of the genital area, and used as the basis for their suit’s design. Concerns have previously been raised over the potential use of padding inside a suit, but the use of a 3D scanner ensures that outside objects cannot now be inserted beneath the material.
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Dr Kamran Karim, a senior consultant at Maria-Hilf Hospital in Krefeld in north-west Germany, told Bild: “It is possible to achieve a temporary, visual thickening of the penis by injecting paraffin or hyaluronic acid. However, this does not lengthen it. Such an injection is not medically indicated and is associated with risks.”
Mathias Hafele, from the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), told Bild that there had been no enlargement with “visible aids”, but the use of injections was not specifically ruled out. “Currently, no further measurements are planned,” Hafele said. “However, we are already working behind the scenes on methods to improve this complex issue.”
It all follows an 11-month (FIS) investigation and then ban earlier this month of two coaches and a former equipment manager of Norway’s ski-jumping team.
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They had admitted conspiring to manipulate the suits of the team’s top jumpers at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway, last year. Video evidence of them inserting illegal stitching into the crotch area of their two star jumpers was anonymously posted on social media after an official inspection had taken place.
Banka has also outlined his concern at the presence in Milan of Eteri Tutberidze, the former coach of the Russian skater Kamila Valieva, whose positive doping test was revealed during the Beijing Games in 2022. Valieva was then 15. Tutberidze is now working at the Olympics with the Georgian skater Nika Egadze.
“It is not our decision – the investigation found no evidence that this particular person was engaged in this doping so there is no legal basis to exclude her,” Banka said. “But, of course, if you ask me personally about my feelings, I didn’t feel comfortable with her presence here at the Olympic Games for sure.”
The Telegraph, London
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