On Saturday, two Norwegian ski jumpers were disqualified from the World Championship for manipulating their suits, and the very next day, the International Ski Federation launched an investigation into all Norwegian medal winners.
Now, the Norwegian Ski Federation admits to having deliberately cheated.
"Fully aware"
The Federation called an extra press conference on Sunday afternoon, where they revealed the scandal.
We have cheated. We have tried to deceive the system, says Norwegian jumping coach Jan-Erik Aalbu, and continues:
The support team has told us that on Friday, they chose to sew in a reinforced thread into the jumping suit of Johann Forfang and Marius Lindvik. This was done fully aware that it was not within the rules, but in the belief that it would not be detected by the FIS equipment controller.
Aalbu continues to explain that he himself was unaware of the cheating and that he is against it.
The revelation comes as a shock to me as well. Conscious manipulation of equipment and cheating goes against everything I stand for.
May lose all medals
Exactly what the penalty will be for the Norwegian Federation is still unclear.
Norwegian VG reports that all Norwegian medals in ski jumping and Nordic combined - a total of six - will be investigated by the International Ski Federation FIS.
The Norwegian team had previously dismissed all allegations of cheating. After the jumping in the large hill, the Norwegians were disqualified. Subsequently, videos of the cheating spread, and several other nations filed protests.
Another Norwegian athlete was disqualified for using unauthorized bindings.
