A top plastic surgeon famous for performing penis-enlarging surgeries has claimed he provided the service to a ski jumper last month.
The Winter Olympics has been gripped by the most unusual of sagas in recent weeks following unsubstantiated claims by German newspaper Bild that male ski jumpers have been injecting hyaluronic acid into their genitals to gain a competitive advantage.
The bizarre controversy, which has become known as ‘penis-gate’, is centered around the idea that enlarging genitals allows ski jumpers to wear larger suits and, in turn, improve their aerodynamics and increase the distance of their jumps when competing.
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation has called it a ‘wild rumor’, while the World Anti-Doping Agency has promised to investigate any evidence of whether it constitutes doping. No specific athlete has been accused of undergoing the surgery.
However, in an interview with USA Today, renowned surgeon Alessandro Littara has revealed that he recently carried out the procedure on a ski jumper.
‘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, who has performed over 3,000 penis-enlargement surgeries, told the outlet.
A top plastic surgeon famous for performing penis-enlarging surgeries has claimed he provided the service to a ski jumper
‘However, I can say that I treated him last month and used a generous dose of hyaluronic acid.’
The ski jumper told Littara that he wanted the surgery to avoid embarrassment in the changing room after competition.
‘I cannot say whether he told me the whole truth,’ he admitted. ‘But in any case, we did a good job and implanted a more than generous dose of hyaluronic acid.
‘The result is immediate, so the athlete could wear the new suit after just a few minutes.’
According to German-based group UGRS Darmstadt – Center for Penile Surgery, Littara is ‘probably the leading doctor in Europe in terms of experience, surgical figures and scientific work and publications on the subject of surgical penis enlargement.’
Hyaluronic acid, when injected into a male appendage, can increase the circumference of the penis by one to two centimeters and therefore allow male ski jumpers to wear suits with a larger crotch area.
At the world championships in March 2025, it emerged that the Norwegian team had adjusted the seams around the crotch of their suits in order to gain an advantage over their rivals.
Magnus Brevik, their head coach, his assistant coach Thomas Lobben and another staff member, Adrian Livelten, were handed 18-month bans in the fallout.
The Winter Olympics has been gripped by unsubstantiated claims of ski jumpers injecting hyaluronic acid into their genitals to gain a competitive advantage
The defending Olympic ski jump champion Marius Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang were also suspended for three months, though it was found that the athletes were not aware of the plot.
Ahead of this season and the Olympics, skiers were required to have their bodies measured using a 3D scanner.
When undergoing the scan, athletes must only wear ‘body-tight underwear’, as their crotch height is also measured to determine the size of their competitive suit. This is to ensure suits have a tolerance of only two to four centimeters, plus an additional three centimeters for a male’s crotch height.
The new measures brought in by the FIS ahead of the Games to crack down on the supposed issue included tamper-proof microchips, and competitors had to pass through control checkpoints prior to competing.
