Winter Olympics ‘penis-gate’ sparks anti-doping concerns

Extraordinary questions have arisen over the prospect of athletes injecting acid into the penis, which would theoretically increase the suit sizes of ski-jumpers and improve aerodynamics

The Predazzo Ski Jumping Stadium, a key area at the 2026 Winter Olympics (Getty)

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has responded to extraordinary questions over ski jumping athletes and whether they are injecting acid into their penises in a bid to gain an advantage at the Winter Olympics.

Preliminary events are underway in Italy, where the 2026 Games will begin in earnest on Friday, and already there have been unusual concerns around the men’s ski jumping, which is due to start on Monday.

German publication Bild has raised the question of whether athletes might inject hyaluronic acid into their penises, in a bid to increase the size of their genitalia – with the wider aim of enhanced suit sizes to improve aerodynamics.

These strange concerns come after Norwegian Olympic medallists Marius Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang were suspended for three months, after the team were found to have secretly tweaked the crotch seams on their suits at the 2025 World Ski Championships.

Norwegian head coach Magnus Brevik, assistant coach Thomas Lobben, and fellow team member Adrian Livelten were banned for 18 months for their involvement. The tactic apparently made jumpers’ suits larger, thus reducing their rate of descent due to bigger wingspans.

According to a study in the scientific journal Frontiers, adding 2cm to the circumference of a suit would reduce drag by 4 per cent and increase lift by 5 per cent. In theory, a 2cm enhancement in suit size would give an extra 5.8m in jump length.

Marius Lindvik was suspended for three months last year for tweaking the crotch seam on his suit (Getty)

Bild quoted Dr Kamran Karim, who said: “It is possible to achieve a temporary, visual thickening of the penis by injecting paraffin or hyaluronic acid. Such an injection is not medically indicated and is associated with risks.”

Olivier Niggli, Wada’s director general, said on the matter: “I’m not aware of the details of ski jumping – and how this can improve – but if anything was to come to the surface, we would look at anything if it is actually doping related.

“We don’t do other means of enhancing performance, but our list committee would certainly look into whether this would fall into this category. But I hadn’t heard about that until you mentioned [it].”

Wada president Witold Banka said: “Ski jumping is very popular in Poland [Banka’s home country], so I promise you I’m going to look at it.”

The IOC and Milano-Cortina 2026 have been approached for comment.