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During its 26-year history, the World Anti-Doping Agency has faced thousands of questions about athletes using illicit substances. Thursday, however, surely marked the first time it was asked whether ski jumpers were injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid in order to fly further.
The Wada president Witold Banka’s reaction? “Ski jumping is very popular in Poland [Banka’s home country] so I promise you I’m going to look at it,” he said, with a wry smile.
As crazy as it sounds, there are broader concerns surrounding this issue – which has been dubbed “Penisgate” – after they were first reported by the German newspaper Bild.
Last year two of Norway’s Olympic medallists, Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang, were given three-month suspensions after the team was found to have secretly adjusted the seams of their suits around the crotch area at the 2025 World Ski Championships.
Norway’s head coach Magnus Brevik, assistant coach Thomas Lobben, and staff member Adrian Livelten were also banned for 18 months for their involvement in the scheme, which made the jumpers’ suits larger and therefore reduced their descent rate due to the bigger wingspan.
One study in the scientific journal Frontiers found that every 2cm in suit size circumference reduced drag by 4% and increased lift by 5%. It said that a 2cm change in the suits was equivalent to an extra 5.8 metres in jump length.
However Bild has now claimed that jumpers have switched to other methods to game the system when they are measured for their suits, data for which is taken by a 3D scanner from the lowest point of their genitals. They include injecting acid into their penises or putting clay in their underwear to make their measurements temporarily bigger and therefore their suits looser for when they compete.
The newspaper quoted a doctor, Kamran Karim, who said: “It is possible to achieve a temporary, visual thickening of the penis by injecting paraffin or hyaluronic acid. Such an injection is not medically indicated and is associated with risks.”
These extraordinary rumours are yet to have been matched with any hard proof, although under Wada rules a method that endangers the health of an athlete and goes against the spirit of sport would be banned.
Asked about the rumours, Olivier Niggli, the director general of Wada, said: “I’m not aware of the details of ski jumping – and how this can improve – but if anything was to come to the surface we would look at anything if it is actually doping related.
“We don’t do other means of enhancing performance but our list committee would certainly look into whether this would fall into this category. But I hadn’t heard about that until you mentioned.”
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