Yes, you read that right
WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, will investigate claims that male ski jumpers at the Winter Olympics are injecting their penises to improve performance if complaints are made.
German paper Bild have reported that some jumpers have been injecting hyaluronic acid into their penis to increase circumference by one to two centimetres.
Injecting the substance, which isn’t banned in the sport, would mean the surface area of jumpers’ suits would increase, which would then increase their flight in the air.
Sandro Pertile, the ski jumping men’s race director at the international ski and snowboard federation, explained the need for the increased suits size, saying: “Every extra centimetre on a suit counts. If your suit has a 5 per cent bigger surface area, you fly further.”
Wada director general Olivier Niggli said: “I am not aware of the details of ski jumping, and how that could improve performance.
“If anything was to come to the surface, we would look at it and see if it is doping related. We don’t address other means of enhancing performance.”
However, WADA’s Polish president Witold Banka said: “Ski jumping is very popular in Poland so I promise you I’m going to look at it.”
Hyularonic acid injected into the penis can last up to 18 months. The ski jumping begins at Milan-Cortina on Monday, with the Winter Olympics officially starting on Friday.
There is precedent for this type of tampering. In August, Marius Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang were given three-month suspensions for tampering with suits during the men’s large hill event at the World Ski Championships this year.
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