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Livigno: One of the biggest controversies of Milano Cortina 2026 is a puerile myth – or so we thought.
In the lead-up to these Winter Olympics, German newspaper Bild alleged, without evidence, that male ski-jumpers were having hyaluronic acid injected into their penises to increase the surface area of their suits and, in turn, enable them to jump further.
The stadium in Predazzo where ski jumping will take place for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.Credit: Getty Images
The science checks out – but no names were named, no serious allegations were levelled towards any individuals, and the story was categorised as a massive beat-up.
Only a cheeky suggestion from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s president Witold Banka – “I’m going to look at it”, he said, delighting the reporters who threw him a “Hail Mary” question about it at a pre-Olympics press conference – briefly exhumed it from the graveyard of dead yarns.
That was despite, as our columnist Darren Kane wrote, the substance in question is not on WADA’s banned list. Then it all went away, and we moved on.
Reports of skiers undergoing penis enlargements to give them a boost in the air started to circulate last month.Credit: Simon Letch
Now, penis-gate is back with a vengeance.
USA Today has published correspondence with a leading authority in penoplasty (and scrotoplasty), which suggests there is genuine substance to the sub-torso conspiracy after all.
Italian plastic surgeon Alessandro Littara, who says he has injected hyaluronic acid into more than 3000 penises during his decades-long career, has revealed he carried out the procedure on a ski jumper who told him he was experiencing embarrassment in the dressing room after competition.
And it happened recently.
“Regarding the news in question, I did in fact treat an athlete from that sport, whose name and nationality I will obviously not disclose, nor whether he is participating in these Olympics,” Littara told the website in an email.
“However, I can say that I treated him last month and used a generous dose of hyaluronic acid.
“I cannot say whether he told me the whole truth … but in any case, we did a good job and implanted a more than generous dose of hyaluronic acid.”
FIS, the international ski and snowboarding federation, has always maintained that the story is and always has been “pure hearsay”, and would like people to stop asking them about it.
Bruce Sassi, the FIS communications director, has repeatedly delivered what appears to be a stock statement on the matter to multiple outlets: “There has never been any indication, let alone evidence, that any competitor has ever made use of a hyaluronic acid injection to attempt to gain a competitive advantage.”
Littara’s revelation drags the matter back into the Olympic spotlight – although authorities face a stiff challenge in identifying his client and investigating his claims.
In any case, the ski jumping competitions wrapped up on Monday, so any punishments – should it get to that stage – would have to be carried out retrospectively.
The Winter Olympic Games is broadcast on the 9Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
