Austrian ski jumper Daniel Tschofenig was banned from the Winter Olympics final because his shoes were four millimetres too big – just days after penis-gate engulfed the Games.
Tschofenig, 23, had qualified for the final on Saturday, but revealed his disappointment in himself when he was essentially disqualified for the error.
‘I used new shoes during training,’ he told Austrian broadcaster ORF. ‘I wasn’t really happy with them, but I kept them anyway.
‘Unfortunately, I was naive and didn’t check the sizes. That was incredibly stupid of me.’
The Austrian won the World Cup last year, and was one of the favourites for success over the weekend until his equipment was checked shortly after his first jump.
After scoring 137.7, he appeared to have qualified for the final, but it was soon made clear that would not be the case.
Austrian ski jumper Daniel Tschofenig was banned from the Winter Olympics final due to his shoes being too big
The 23-year-old had qualified for the final but he was expelled when his equipment was checked after
‘Hang on folks, there are some changes here,’ TNT Sports commentator Ian Findlay said as news broke. ‘We’re just getting news that there has been a disqualification for Daniel Tschofenig.
‘The big news just after the first round, Tschofenig disqualified due to boot size, four millimeteres over,’ Findlay said.
‘He is out of the competition, the first disqualification we’ve had at these Olympic Games in ski jumping and it meant Hector Kapustik gets in.’
Former Slovenian ski jumper Jernej Damjan added: ‘It’s big news. Daniel Tschofenig out and Hektor Kapustik in, which is good for Slovakia. Tschofenig finally finding something extra and when he does, he gets kicked out.’
‘There was a huge improvement compared to training and he found something even more in this first round. He was in eighth place before this disqualification which was not a bad position to be in, he still had a chance to attack.’
The incident came just a matter of days after new measures to crack down on the alleged penis enlargement scandal that has engulfed the Games came to light, including new 3D scans of an athlete’s crotch area.
Asaga, known as ‘penis-gate’, took a surreal hold on the Games in Milan-Cortina, with unsubstantiated claims emerging that male ski jumpers have resorted to injecting hyaluronic acid into their genitals to gain a competitive advantage.
Ahead of this season and the Olympics, skiers were required to have their bodies measured using a 3D scanner.
It came just days after ‘penis-gate’ had engulfed the games, which led to skiers undergoing 3D scans before competition
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 to ensure suits have a tolerance of only two to four centimetres, plus an additional three centimetres for a male’s crotch height.
This is to prevent athletes from tampering with their suits to gain an advantage. Scientific studies suggest that any increase in the surface area of a skinsuit can effectively turn the jumper into a human glider. The bigger the bulge, the further they fly.
A study in the journal, Frontiers, established that every two centimetres in suit circumference reduced drag by four per cent and increased lift by five per cent – equivalent to an extra 5.8 metres in jump length.
Hyaluronic acid, when injected into a male appendage, can increase the circumference of the penis by one to two centimetres. Usage would allow male ski jumpers to wear larger suits, which would improve their aerodynamics.
The new measures brought in by the FIS ahead of the Games to crack down on the supposed issue include tamper-proof microchips, and competitors will have to pass through control checkpoints prior to competing.
