Five Olympic ski jumpers, all of them women, were disqualified Tuesday from the mixed team jump event for wearing loose-fitting clothing that officials say could have given them extra loft while in the air.
The five athletes represented Austria, Japan, Norway and Germany.
“The [International Ski Federation] destroyed everything with this operation. I think they have destroyed women’s ski jumping,” said Katharina Althaus, a three-time Olympian and 2018 silver medalist, after the DQs came down, according to Yahoo Sports. “I have been checked so many times in 11 years of ski jumping, and I have never been disqualified once. I know my suit was compliant.”
On Instagram, Althaus posted: “160 World Cup starts, 5x World Championships, 3x Olympic Games and I got DSQ for the first time,” she wrote. “My heart is broken.”
Others also questioned the ruling.
“We stick together no matter what!” fellow German jumper Karl Geiger wrote on social media. “Nevertheless, I have to ask myself whether the regulations for the women were changed overnight, with so many disqualifications?!? It was neither the right time nor the right place to disqualify so many athletes from different nations.”
Norwegian ski jumping chief of sports Clas Brede Braathen said the incident was regrettable.
“This is something we should have cleaned up in before the Olympics,” Geiger said. “The sport of ski jumping has experienced one of its darker days today.”
