Two Olympic gold medallist ski jumpers and three staffers on Norway men’s team have been charged with ethics violations by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.
The charges follow an investigation into whether the team had tampered with ski suits at the world championships in Norway in March.
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) has confirmed that star ski jumpers Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang, two coaches and a member of the service staff were charged under ethics and competition rules after an investigation into “equipment manipulation”.
Illegally modified suits could help athletes to fly further and it led to formal protests at the event from the Austria, Slovenia and Poland teams.
Lindvik’s gold medal in the men’s normal hill event at the world championships is now in doubt, along with Norway’s bronze in the men’s team event on the large hill.
Lindvik and Forfang, who were both in the team that took bronze, denied involvement but have been suspended by FIS for the rest of the season.
The allegations first emerged at the world championship event and were backed by video footage and quick confessions from the head coach and equipment manager, who said the suits were altered only before the men’s large hill event.
“We regret it like dogs, and I’m terribly sorry that this happened,” head coach Magnus Brevik said at the time.
FIS said the investigation had since conducted 38 witness interviews and examined 88 pieces of evidence.
No one else will be charged in the case.
The timeframe for hearings into this case have not been released but if found guilty, the team members face bans, fines and disqualification of results.
The charges come six months out from the Winter Olympics in northern Italy where 27-year-old Lindvik was hoping to defend his Olympic title in the men’s large hill event.
Forfang, now aged 30, took team gold on the large hill and individual silver on the normal hill at the 2018 Olympics held in South Korea.
It has prompted the governing body to tighten the rules around ski suits which has led to a number of disqualifications.
During the first event of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, six male ski jumpers were disqualified because of suit issues such as waist size and three more were “not permitted to start”.
Another jumper from Japan was also blocked from competing the next day at the Grand Prix event in France.
FIS race director Sandro Pertile said it was “perfectly normal” for teams to need some time to adapt to the new changes to the equipment regulations.
“It’s also important to highlight that these disqualifications are clearly a result of technical inadequacies — there’s no sign whatsoever of ill intent from the teams,” he said.
FIS indicated it would remain rigorous in its checks throughout the Olympic season.
There have been several other high profile cheating scandals in recent history, which have rocked the international sporting community.
Three years ago, world chess champion Magnus Carlsen accused rival Hans Niemann of cheating.
The American grandmaster denied using a vibrating sex toy to cheat during a huge legal row between the two players which settled for $100 million (£74.2 million).
In 2018, the Australian cricket team was involved in a ball-tampering scandal.
Players Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft received bans for their roles in altering the condition of the ball with sandpaper in the Cape Town Test against South Africa.
Several other high-profile people in Australian cricket quit over the scandal and a review into Cricket Australia’s culture found the organisation was arrogant.
Bloodgate was a rugby union scandal that involved English team Harlequins in 2009 when it took on Irish side Leinster.
Player Tom Williams used a fake blood capsule to trigger a substitution and get Nick Evans back on the pitch.
In April 1980, Rosie Ruiz was crowned winner of the women’s division of the Boston Marathon.
But she was stripped of her title eight days later when it was revealed she had not run the entire course.
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