'Penis-gate' hits the Olympics as organisers probe bizarre ski-jumping doping claims
The unusual saga, dubbed both "crotch-gate" and "penis-gate", has dominated much of the pre-Games discussion in the Dolomites ahead of Friday's opening
Ski jumpers at the Winter Olympics have been facing accusations of a rather unusual form of doping: The artificial growing of their penises.
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Ahead of the opening ceremony in Milan, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is investigating unsubstantiated claims that athletes are injecting an acid serum into their genitalia to gain an unfair advantage.
The unusual saga, dubbed both "crotch-gate" and "penis-gate", has dominated much of the pre-Games discussion in the Dolomites ahead of Friday's opening.
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The alleged doping has nothing to do with enhancing bedroom performance, but is said to benefit jumpers by enlarging the skin suit surface area around the crotch to give ski jumpers greater lift.
WADA director general Olivier Niggli said he was not aware of the claims on how it could improve performance.
"If anything was to come to the surface, we would look at anything if it is actually doping related. We don't address other means of enhancing performance," he said.
The issue first came to light at the World Championships last year, when Norwegian athletes were caught adding stitching to the crotch area.
Team GB were also accused of seeking an aerodynamic advantage and were pulled in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on the eve of the opening ceremony in Milan.
Elsewhere, the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association has been appealing to overturn a ban on new helmets.
The head gear was outlawed because officials believed it broke competition rules with its irregular shape.
It means skeleton gold medal contender Matt Weston will be denied the opportunity to wear the helmet, a decision the 28-year-old was unhappy with.
He said while awaiting the CAS outcome: "This is a sport that is won by hundredths of a second, so for us as GB and the team we have around us, we're constantly innovating from race week to race week.
"We try to push the boundaries and find those gains, this is just one of the parts of innovation we do as GB and I think we do it pretty well."
The US team has also launched a legal challenge after skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender fell just short of qualifying for a sixth Olympics.
Fewer qualification ranking points became available after rivals Canada pulled four sliders from a race last month, reducing the status of the event.
The sport's governing body recognised it could look like the event was manipulated but found no rules were broken.