Ski jumping scandal
Olympic champion clearly: “Everyone does it”
12.03.2025 – 2:34 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
The scandal about the Norwegian suit manipulations is by no means over, three prominent ex-ski jumper. It’s about a culture of fraud.
The scandal of the Norwegians and the admitted fraud (all of this read here) in relation to unauthorized reinforced seams shakes the ski jumping scene. In the middle of the refurbishment process, ski jumping Olympic champion Daniel-André Tande is now speaking-the former Norwegian ass has a worrying confession.
“Absolutely everyone does it,” the 31-year-old told Norwegian Rundfunk NRK to manipulate the equipment. “Yes, I would dare to say that I did this a few times,” Tande continued. In 2018 in Pyeongchang he won Olympic gold with the team.
The former ski jumper Anders Jacobsen and Johan Remen Evensen also admitted manipulations. “It’s a hard word. Fraud. But I can’t say with my hand on my heart not having done it,” said Jacobsen. “Because if the definition of fraud is to wear a somewhat too big suit, I cheated.”
It was not just about illegal changes in the suit, as the Norwegians reported. Shoes, gloves and even the underwear are manipulated. Tande reported that the Norwegians had changed their excessive suit material with a perforation machine in 2019 so that they passed the air permeability test. According to Tande, the various nations had done that another team would have borrowed the Norwegian machine.
The trio sees the main culprit at the World Association FIS, which stimulates the jumper with its regulations – and does not always pass consistently. “The principle in sport is if you are not caught, you didn’t cheat,” said Evensen. “This is a problem of attitude that runs through the whole world of ski.”
The problem is the FIS, said Tande. He claimed that inspectors would not consider visible manipulations so that you had the right winner. “It is the best for the product when a Norwegian wins in Norweg or an Austrian in Austria. This is generally known,” said Tande.