The World Anti-Doping Agency’s latest investigation poses a curious question about what constitutes a “performance-enhancer.”
WADA’s president, Witold Banka, answered a peculiar question on Thursday in Milan, Italy, the host of the 2026 Winter Olympics, about whether his organization will investigate claims of ski jumpers injecting acid into their penises to boost their jump distance.
“Ski jumping is very popular in Poland, so I promise you, I’m going to look at it,” Banka, a former Polish sprinter-turned politician, said wryly.
Dubbed “Penisgate’ by the German newspaper Bild, which first reported the news, the scandal concerns male ski jumpers injecting their genitals with hyaluronic acid, which achieves a “temporary, visual thickening of the penis,” according to Dr. Kamran Karim, a senior consultant at the Maria-Hilf Hospital in Krefeld, Germany.
Before the season, athletes undergo mandatory 3D body scans to measure their body dimensions for their suits, which must be form-fitting in accordance with the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) guidelines.
The ski jumpers inject themselves right before they are measured for their suits with the scanner, which records their body’s measurements starting from the lowest point of their genitals.
Why do they do this? To make their suits looser during competition.
According to an August 2025 study in the scientific journal Frontiers, a larger, looser suit size—even by just centimeters—can result in a considerable boost in ski jump length.
The study found that each additional two centimeters in suit circumference corresponds to an additional 5.8 meters (19 feet) in jump distance, as a larger suit decreases drag and increases lift.
During the 2025 World Ski Championships, two Norwegian Olympic medalists, Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang, were suspended for three months after they were found to have altered the seams of their suits near the crotch. Both Lindvik and Forfang are set to compete in Milan Cortina.
Norway’s head coach Magnus Brevik, assistant coach Thomas Lobben, and staff member Adrian Livelten were also suspended for 18 months for their connection to the suit manipulation scheme.
“I’m not aware of the details of ski jumping—and how this can improve—but if anything was to come to the surface, we would look at anything if it is actually doping-related," said WADA director general Olivier Niggli. “We don’t do other means of enhancing performance, but our list committee would certainly look into whether this would fall into this category.”
No athlete has yet been confirmed to have altered their penis size before a suit fitting, but the FIS said it is aware that some competitors have a desire to “cheat the system.”
The first training session for ski jumpers at the Milano Cortina Winter Games will take place on Friday at the Predazzo Ski Jumping Stadium.
