Norway ski jumpers accept 3-month ban for manipulated suits

Two Olympic gold medallists have accepted a three-month ban after a scandal over tampering with ski jump suits for Norway men's team at this year's world championships.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) said Saturday that Norwegians Marius Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang were "willing to accept" the sanctions proposed by the federation's ethics committee.

FIS said Lindvik and Forfang, who were provisionally suspended in March, "were not charged with actual knowledge of the manipulations," but that they "should have checked and asked questions about the night-time adjustments."

The length of the sanction — " from which the period of the provisional suspension already served shall be deducted" — opens the way for both men to compete in the Winter Olympics to be held in northern Italy in February.

Norway's ski jump team came under scrutiny by sports authorities at their home Nordic world championships over manipulated suits, with the apparent intent to make athletes fly further thanks to the suits' extra aerodynamic resistance.

Lindvik and Forfang denied wrongdoing. Admissions of guilt were made in March by head coach Magnus Brevik and equipment manager Adrian Livelten, who said suits were altered only before the men's large hill event.

In August, the federation opened an ethics inquiry into the star ski jumpers, two coaches and a member of the service staff of Norway's men's ski jumping team.

The manipulation was to increase the size of suits pre-approved and microchipped by FIS, and was captured on secretly filmed footage. The alterations could be confirmed only by tearing apart the seams of the crotch area on the Norwegian ski suits.

That discovery led to formal protests from the Austria, Slovenia and Poland teams.

Lindvik has been expected to defend his Olympic title next year in the men's large hill event at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. Forfang took team gold on the large hill and normal hill individual silver at the 2018 Olympics held in South Korea.