Three members of the Norwegian men’s ski jumping team have been suspended just weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, due to an unexpected controversy.
The issue first arose in March last year when head coach Magnus Brevig and suit technician Adrian Livelten were captured on camera during the 2025 Nordic World Ski Championships in Norway. They appeared to be tampering with the skiers’ suits.
It was later discovered that assistant head coach Thomas Lobben was also involved in the scheme.
The officials made alterations by adding illegal non-elastic stitching into the crotch areas of suits belonging to Olympic gold medalists Johann André Forfang and Marius Lindvik. These modifications were implemented after the suits had already passed inspection by event staff.
The enhancements involved enlarging and flattening the crotch area to make the suits more aerodynamic and streamlined, potentially giving the jumpers a significant advantage in terms of distance.
Since these changes could provide the athletes with an unfair edge, the case was brought to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS). The FIS conducted an 11-month investigation into the situation.
Bruno Sassi, spokesperson for FIS, stated, “There have been disqualifications in the past, many. It’s part of the sport,” as reported by AP. “But there had never been that kind of a brazen attempt to not only bend the rules, but like downright do something…to cheat the system in a way that it is very different from simply having a suit that is a tad too long or a tad too loose.”
This incident has reportedly led to a sense of ‘national shame in Norway’ and has ‘compelled’ the sport’s committee to ‘overhaul its enforcement protocols’.
The committee decided against imposing a minimal sanction on the team officials, opting instead to set a strict standard, stating: ‘now is indeed the appropriate time to put down a clear marker to what is not acceptable’ in the sport.
Following the investigation, Brevig, Livelten, and Lobben received 18-month suspensions from the sport.
Meanwhile, Olympic hopefuls Forfang, 30, and Lindvik, 27, maintained that they were unaware of the suit tampering. They agreed to a 3-month suspension that began in August, allowing them to still compete for Norway in the upcoming Winter Olympics.