Just before the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the event’s officials have unveiled a peculiar new microchipping regulation that has caught many by surprise.
The grand event to inaugurate the Milano Cortina games is set to take place at the San Siro on Friday, February 6, although the competition itself began earlier on Wednesday, February 4.
Many familiar events are making a return for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games. However, ski jumping is undergoing significant changes due to a controversy known as ‘penis gate’.
Interestingly, the focus on ski jumpers’ attire, particularly around their crotch areas, has become a topic of discussion following a scandal that emerged last year.
Earlier this month, the German publication Bild reported that at the 2025 Nordic World Ski Championships in Norway, some ski jumpers were enhancing their genital regions with substances like hyaluronic acid.
In simple terms, athletes were aiming for a larger crotch area to wear bigger ski jumping suits, which could potentially increase lift and improve performance.
To address this issue, athletes are now required to undergo advanced 3D body and suit measurements to prevent any form of tampering.
Bruno Sassi, representing the international ski federation, FIS, explained to the Associated Press: “There have been disqualifications in the past, many. It’s part of the sport. 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.”
The ‘penis-gate’ scandal shook the sport last year when Norwegian athletes Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang were suspended for three months.
Rune Velta, a former Norwegian ski jumper, has taken charge of the Norwegian team with the aim of restoring its reputation.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Velta told the media. “We are building everything around the athletes from scratch. We started five months ago with zero and now we have a team around them to make them perform.”
Reflecting on the new regulations, Velta added: “Acceptance for a kind of minor error and mistakes are really low. We needed this summer to understand the standards and to learn kind of the line of the control and execution of the rules.”