Before the start of the new ski jumping season, the suit scandal is still reverberating. The DSV Adler Philipp Raimund and Karl Geiger now dealt heavily against Norway.
“There is still a bit of bad blood, I definitely haven’t completely forgiven the Norwegians yet and that won’t happen in the future either,” said Raimund on “Eurosport”.
The winner of the Summer Grand Prix added: “It wasn’t just the jumpers who suffered, but the entire sport.”
According to Raimund, the two ski jumpers involved could have been punished more severely. “It’s important that there was a penalty, but in my opinion it was a bit too low. It was unfair behavior and so I would have liked it to have been punished more harshly,” said the 25-year-old.
It has now been over six months since the scandal surrounding manipulated suits in the Norwegian ski jumping team made waves. Marius Lindvik, Johan Andre Forfang and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal were taken out of action during the home World Cup and were no longer allowed to take part in any competitions until the end of the winter.
For the new season, which opens on November 21st in Lillehammer, all ski jumpers can compete again as usual.
“Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”
Karl Geiger also believes the sanctions are too lenient. “Serving the punishment in the summer is not a real punishment. We also don’t know to what extent the athletes were involved and knew about the fraud,” he said on “Eurosport”.
The fact that Norway’s former head coach Magnus Brevik recently criticized the FIS and said that the manipulation of the suits was “the result of the culture that has developed in ski jumping in recent years” caused Raimund and Geiger to shake their heads.
“Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” says Raimund. Geiger emphasized: “I don’t need to place much value on the word of someone who actively cheated.”