Ski jumping: Wada responds to penis injection claims

World Anti-Doping Agency chiefs will investigate claims male ski jumpers are injecting their penises in a bid to improve sporting performance, if a complaint is made.

In January, German newspaper Bild, external reported that jumpers were injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid before being measured for their suits.

Hyaluronic acid, which is not banned in sport, can be used to increase penis circumference by one or two centimetres.

This would increase the surface area of their suits during competition, which, according to FIS, the international ski and snowboard federation, could increase their flight in the air.

“Every extra centimetre on a suit counts. If your suit has a 5% bigger surface area, you fly further,” said FIS ski jumping men’s race director Sandro Pertile.

Asked about the claims in Bild at a press conference at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, Wada director general Olivier Niggli said: “I am not aware of the details of ski jumping, and how that could improve performance.

“If anything was to come to the surface, we would look at it and see if it is doping related. We don’t address other [non-doping] means of enhancing performance.”

Clearly entertained by the question, Wada’s Polish president Witold Banka joked: “Ski jumping is very popular in Poland so I promise you I’m going to look at it.”