OBERHOFEN, Switzerland (AP) — Two Olympic gold medalist ski jumpers and three staffers on the powerful Norway men’s team were charged with ethics violations Monday after an investigation into alleged tampering with ski suits at the world championships.
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation said star ski jumpers Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang, two coaches and a member of the service staff were formally charged as part of an investigation into “equipment manipulation” at the Nordic worlds Norway hosted in March.
Illegally modified suits can help athletes fly further with more aerodynamic resistance.
The allegations — backed by video footage and quick confessions by team officials — shook the tight-knit communities of ski jumping and Norwegian sports when they emerged on the final weekend in Trondheim.
No timetable was given for hearings or verdicts in a case that intensifies less than six months before the next Winter Olympics open in northern Italy.
Bans, fines and disqualification of results are on the slate of punishments open to the FIS Ethics Committee, the governing body said in a statement.
Lindvik’s gold medal in the men’s normal hill event at the worlds held in Trondheim, plus Norway’s bronze in the men’s team event on the large hill are clearly at risk.
FIS said the investigation conducted 38 witness interviews and examined 88 pieces of evidence, and that no one else will be charged in the case.
Lindvik and Forfang, who both were in the team that took bronze, denied involvement in March though were disqualified from the individual large hill event and suspended by FIS for the rest of the season. Their charges were signed off by the FIS ruling council, the governing body said.
The 27-year-old Lindvik has been expected to defend his Olympic title next year in the men’s large hill event at the Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games. Forfang, now 30, took team gold on the large hill and individual silver on the normal hill at the 2018 Olympics held in South Korea.
Admissions of guilt were made in March by head coach Magnus Brevik and equipment manager Adrian Livelten, who said suits were altered only before the men’s large hill event.
“We regret it like dogs, and I’m terribly sorry that this happened,” Brevik said at the time. A third team staffer, Thomas Lobben, also is now charged.
The manipulation was to increase the size of suits pre-approved and microchipped by FIS, and was captured on secretly filmed footage. It led to formal protests from the Austria, Slovenia and Poland teams.
The alterations could be confirmed only by tearing apart the seams of the crotch area on the Norwegian ski suits.
The case will be judged by three members of the ethics panel which must reach verdicts “no later than 30 days after the hearing process is concluded,” FIS said.
FIS has already tightened up its rules on ski jump suits, something which caused a spate of disqualifications when athletes gathered for the first competition of the new season Saturday. FIS said that was down to technical issues and it didn’t suspect “ill intent.”
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