Three more Norwegian ski jumpers were suspended on Thursday in a widening cheating scandal that has shocked the sport.
World championships medalists Robin Pederson and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal were provisionally suspended along with Robert Johansson over suspicion of illegal manipulation of jump suits, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation said.
They follow the suspensions on Wednesday of Olympic gold medalists Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang in a scandal that came to light after Norway team officials manipulated suits to improve aerodynamics and help athletes fly farther.
FIS said it was asked to seize all jump suits used by Norway at the world championships in Trondheim last week and found no irregularities. But it said findings that “raised additional suspicions of manipulation” led to the suspensions of Pederson, Sundal and Johansson, who will not be able to take part in any events organized by FIS or national ski associations.
“The rules are quite clear. The rules are made by all the ski family,” FIS secretary general Michel Vion told a news conference in Oslo where a World Cup event started on Thursday. “We know exactly the situation and I heard [it said] that, ‘Yeah, but ski jumping is special. They [are always] on the limit, we can play’ … No, there’s no play. There’s no game here. It’s only rules.”
It is not known how widespread the practice of manipulating pre-approved suits is within ski jumping.
Lindvik and Forfang said they knew nothing about deliberately altered equipment, but their coach Magnus Brevig and equipment manager Adrian Livelten confessed and were stood down from their jobs.
The investigation will be made by the FIS independent ethics and compliance office.
“We are all aware that this is not the best moment for ski jumping, but I think this is the way that we want to go,” FIS race director of ski jumping Sandro Pertile said. “In this case we have, we are into an intentional manipulation. We cannot communicate all the details but I think that we are on a good way to clarify the topic.”
FIS said all suits would be checked at the event in Oslo.
