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Sean Ingle
‘Penis injection’ claims in Winter Olympics ski jumping investigated by Wada
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.
Bryan Armen Graham
Is the new USA Dream Team a group of figure skaters?
This morning, inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena, the United States will launch their defense of the Olympic figure skating team title carrying something rare in a sport usually defined by individual brilliance: overwhelming depth. Which raises a question that, until recently, would have sounded almost absurd in figure skating.
Is the new USA Dream Team a group of figure skaters?
Not only because they could leave Milan with a medal haul worthy of comparison to the 1984 US boxing team or the 1996 US women’s track and field squad. But because of something more: the chance this group could push figure skating beyond its traditional audience and back into the center of the sporting conversation, much like the US men’s basketball team did at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Bryan will be covering he events at the Milano Ice Skating Arena this morning and you can read the rest of his figure skating preview here:
We are curling!
Team GB’s doubles match with Sweden is underway in Cortina. Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds have won their first three matches of the round robin stage already. They can add two more today as they also play South Korea later.
You can follow all of our Winter Olympics coverage in a dedicated section of Big Website and the Guardian app too. One of the best features is the live schedule, which updates with all of the scores from the events currently taking place.
Find that here:
Preamble
Hello and welcome to our daily Winter Olympics live coverage. There is a smattering of action across the Olympic venues in northern Italy today, ahead of tonight’s opening ceremony at San Siro in Milan and we’ll be bringing you all of it. Team GB are on the ice in the curling with Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds in doubles acton against Sweden at 9.05am (GMT), then their second match of the day a bit later on South Korea. I’ll be providing updates on both of those matches.
Sean Ingle, Andy Bull and Bryan Armen Graham will be reporting from on the ground in Italy, but we would also like to hear from you too. Get in touch via the email link at the top of the page or below the line in the comments.
I’m a big fan of becoming a two-week expert in a sport I watch every four years, usually that’s one of the cross-country skiing events but I’ll go where the icy wind takes me. How about you, reader? What event are you looking forward to?
