Two Olympic gold medalist ski jumpers and three staffers on the highly effective Norway males’s group had been charged with ethics violations Monday after an investigation into alleged tampering with ski fits on the world championships.
The Worldwide Ski and Snowboard Federation stated star ski jumpers Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang, two coaches and a member of the service workers had been formally charged as a part of an investigation into “equipment manipulation” on the Nordic worlds Norway hosted in March.
The 5 had been all provisionally suspended in March pending an investigation, the BBC reported on the time.
Illegally modified fits might help athletes fly additional with extra aerodynamic resistance.
The allegations – backed by video footage and fast confessions by group officers – shook the tight-knit communities of ski leaping and Norwegian sports activities after they emerged on the ultimate weekend in Trondheim.
No timetable was given for hearings or verdicts in a case that intensifies lower than six months earlier than the subsequent Winter Olympics open in northern Italy.
Bans, fines and disqualification of outcomes are on the slate of punishments open to the FIS Ethics Committee, the governing physique stated in a press release.
Lindvik’s gold medal within the males’s regular hill occasion on the worlds held in Trondheim, plus Norway’s bronze within the males’s group occasion on the big hill are clearly in danger.
Johann Andre Forfang, and Marius Lindvik, from left, of Norway, pose after successful the bronze medal within the ski leaping males’s group massive hill competitors on the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway, Thursday, March 6, 2025.
Matthias Schrader / AP
FIS stated the investigation carried out 38 witness interviews and examined 88 items of proof, and that nobody else will probably be charged within the case.
Lindvik and Forfang, who each had been within the group that took bronze, denied involvement in March although had been disqualified from the person massive hill occasion and suspended by FIS for the remainder of the season. Their fees had been signed off by the FIS ruling council, the governing physique stated.
The 27-year-old Lindvik has been anticipated to defend his Olympic title subsequent yr within the males’s massive hill occasion on the Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Video games. Forfang, now 30, took group gold on the big hill and particular person silver on the traditional hill on the 2018 Olympics held in South Korea.
Admissions of guilt had been made in March by head coach Magnus Brevik and gear supervisor Adrian Livelten, who stated fits had been altered solely earlier than the lads’s massive hill occasion.
“We regret it like dogs, and I’m terribly sorry that this happened,” Brevik stated on the time. A 3rd group staffer, Thomas Lobben, is also now charged.
Talking on the time the allegations emerged, FIS normal supervisor Jan-Erik Aalbu stated the group had “tried to cheat the system” by placing bolstered thread within the jumpsuits of Lindvik and Forfang, the BBC reported.
The manipulation was to extend the dimensions of fits pre-approved and microchipped by FIS, and was captured on secretly filmed footage. It led to formal protests from the Austria, Slovenia and Poland groups.
The alterations could possibly be confirmed solely by tearing aside the seams of the crotch space on the Norwegian ski fits.
FIS stated that its investigators checked out 5 key points, whether or not: “coaches Magnus Brevig and Thomas Lobben and swimsuit technician acted in violation of the principles in orchestrating the gear manipulation; athletes Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang knowingly acted in contravention of related FIS guidelines; the conspiracy unfold additional within the group, both to different athletes or different workers members of the Norwegian NSA; the Norwegian group had engaged in the identical or comparable gear violations previously; and/or the conspiracy unfold to different groups.
The case will probably be judged by three members of the ethics panel which should attain verdicts “no later than 30 days after the hearing process is concluded,” FIS stated.
FIS has already tightened up its guidelines on ski bounce fits, one thing which brought about a spate of disqualifications when athletes gathered for the primary competitors of the brand new season Saturday. FIS stated that was all the way down to technical points and it didn’t suspect “ill intent.”
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