Norway Investigated for New Case of Cheating: - Not Deliberate on Our Part

Shortly, this is the core of the heated issue:

• Jørgen Graabak was disqualified due to an illegal binding in the men's team competition at the World Championships on Friday.
• The Norwegian combined team later submitted a protest against the procedure behind the disqualification.
• Following the protest, Norway was called back to equipment control to showcase the binding one more time.
• Norway returned the skis but had already replaced the binding with another.

- FIS claims that during the process after the protest, the binding was changed secretly to deceive the jury, says Edgar Fossheim, head of the combined committee, to NRK.
He confirms that the binding was switched but denies that it was done to deceive anyone.

• It is true that the binding was changed, but no one expected the ski to be subject to new inspections. Some claim it was done with the intention to cheat. Regardless, there was no deliberate cheating on our side, says Fossheim to NRK.

Asserts Innocence

Fossheim claims the binding was immediately replaced after Graabak's disqualification to prepare the skis for jumping the next day.

• The jury asked someone in the Norwegian support staff to retrieve the skis for a new check, and he was completely unaware that the skis had a new binding, said the head of the combined committee.

Fossheim says the person who changed the binding barely knew there was a protest underway.

• The binding was switched, and the smeller had to do it right away because he had many pairs of skis to prepare, says Fossheim.

• Then the person who filed the protest, and who is in a different place than the smeller's room, suddenly gets told to run and get the skis, and he retrieves the skis for Jørgen with a binding that is not what Jørgen jumped with. This is perceived by some in FIS as an attempt to fool the jury.

Confirming Investigation

FIS confirms that a case is underway with the ethics committee, but race director Lasse Ottesen doesn’t want to disclose what the investigation is about.

• An investigation into the case with Graabak has been opened. It does not concern the actual disqualification of Jørgen as he jumped with bindings that were not compliant. It pertains to the protest we received from Norway and the process surrounding what happened when the protest was submitted. There were aspects of the process that we were not satisfied with. That is what we have sent forward, said Ottesen to NRK on Sunday.

Sports director Ivar Stuan supports Fossheim’s statements and says he has nothing to add to the case.

Delivered the Skis: - I Ran Down

It was coach Truls Johansen who delivered the skis. He calls the suspicions an “unfortunate situation.”

• A crucial point, and the essence of the case, is that we are protesting the procedure and not the disqualification itself. Had we gone in there to deceive the jury, we would have protested the disqualification itself and therefore had the equipment for a measurement.

• It is certainly unfortunate. In light of current events, it's not exactly surprising either. It was a somewhat unfortunate situation, but we can only tell how things went and cannot do anything more than that, says Johansen.

– Did you know that the ski you took to the jury had a changed binding?
- No, I was not aware of that, says the jumping coach.

Johansen says he was in the jury room three times:

• To submit the protest.
• To verbally clarify what the protest concerned.
• To deliver the ski.

The jumping coach is clear that he had no idea the binding was changed during any of the visits to the jury.

• I did not find this out until after the protest when everything was dismissed.

– What do you think then?
- First of all, it is quite unfortunate. And it is apparent that it should have been communicated better, but we are in the middle of a World Championship event where we have four athletes who are to start in a cross-country race immediately after, and things move quickly in the loop. There is a bunker where we change and have equipment, where it is not possible to communicate without going outside.

• It moves very quickly, and it probably goes a little fast for us too. We just have to take self-criticism for that and improve these routines, because it evidently did not work, says Johansen.

Graabak: – Came as a Shock

Combined athlete Jørgen Graabak says he ran to the woods as soon as he learned of the disqualification because he took it very hard. He stayed there until the cross-country race.

• I was very surprised when I found out about the disqualification because I had no idea I jumped with the wrong binding, says Graabak to NRK.

• I heard that there was talk of a protest regarding the procedure during the control, but I was neither informed nor involved in that process because I was preparing for the cross-country race, he says.

He says he still trusts those around him but feels the fallout comes as a huge surprise.

• I did not know there had been any controversy surrounding the protest until Sunday when the press release from FIS arrived. This came as a shock, says Graabak.

• Now I start to get a picture of what is being alleged to have happened. This is a case between the Norwegian support staff, FIS, and the jury, where I am not involved. And with the information I have right now, I have trust in the explanations from my support staff.

Repeated Jury Visits

Johansen says he was in the jury room three times: * To submit the protest. * To verbally clarify what the protest was about. * To deliver the ski.

The jumping coach is clear that he had no idea about the binding change during any of the visits.
- I had not heard about it until after the protest was already rejected.

– How do you feel about it?
- It is extremely unfortunate. It is clear we should have communicated better, but we are in the middle of a World Championship event where we have four athletes who need to prepare for a cross-country race immediately after, and things were moving fast within the circle. There is a place where we change and have equipment, and it is impossible to communicate without going out.

• It goes very fast, and it probably goes a bit faster for us too. We just have to take a bit of self-criticism and improve these routines, because it clearly did not work, says Johansen.

Conclusion

The event has raised questions about the integrity and transparency of the competition. The Norwegian team has insisted both on their innocence and their incapacity to have deliberately acted against the rules, but the investigation will ultimately decide the outcome of this situation.