Disqualification hail in Beijing: "This is how you destroy the sport"

At the premiere of mixed team jumping at the Olympic Games in Beijing, the sport recedes into the background after five disqualifications. How it came about and what the protagonists say about it.

The first mixed team competition under the Olympic rings was supposed to be a celebratory premiere and turned into a real excitement. The fact that Slovenia lived up to its role as favorite and won well deservedly, and that Russia and Canada turned the ski jumping world upside down with silver and bronze, was a minor matter. These surprises were only triggered by a whopping five disqualifications. All against women ski jumpers, while their male colleagues remained unmolested. But how did it come about and how did the protagonists react?

Almost to the second at 8 p.m. local time (1 p.m. CET), the mixed team competition took its first of countless turns: Sara Takanashi, who had jumped Japan in second place with 103 meters in the first group, was disqualified. A world collapsed for the unlucky fourth of the singles. She crouched on the floor, crying, unable to calm herself. Not even when Ryoyu Kobayashi gave her, himself and Yukiya Sato and Yuki Ito the leap into the final. Even after her final jump of 98.5 meters, the tears rolled down. These would probably have dried up even with a medal, but it wasn't to be. 8.3 points were missing in the end on Canada.

Iraschko-Stolz pleads guilty

Barely a quarter of an hour after Takanashi, who was disqualified three times out of a total of over 200 World Cup and Summer Grand Prix starts, Daniela Iraschko-Stolz was the next grande dame of women's ski jumping. For her, too, it was the suit, more precisely the waist band, as the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV) confirmed to the 'ORF' early on. The 38-year-old seemed reasonably composed when she said on the radio: "It's my own fault because I'm responsible for everything going right. I feel sorry for the team. The others jump sensationally and I hit it.”

The Austrian had only been taken out of the ranking twice in her career and this time the ÖSV didn't want to contest anything either, according to sports director Mario Stecher: "Too far is too far, you have to accept that."

But the fact that it came about left big question marks for the former Nordic combined athlete: “If you have a whole year to take measurements and follow the regulations to some extent and then only take rigorous action at the Olympics, then I have to ask whether this is the right way ."

violinist shocked

When Stecher made his statements after the competition, he already knew what nobody could have known at 1:15 p.m. (CET): It would not stop with these two prominent cases. Again not even a quarter of an hour later, the German team suddenly fell far behind in the ranking, without a nation having overtaken them. Now Katharina Althaus was also disqualified. On Instagram, a few hours after the competition, she wrote: "I have NEVER been in eleven years !!! disqualified" and "I have no words for the decisions made today."

Karl Geiger was also hit. He had just completed his jump of 101.5 meters, the best on this difficult normal hill, which he simply could not crack until the second jump in the individual. “It was the first one I managed on the hill and I thought 'yes, now I can help the team'. But this is a tough number. we were good I saw Katha's jump before I went out. I don't understand why three were thrown out at once. They will have jumped the same material as usual and nothing will have been done about it. I don't know what was checked there," Geiger puzzled on 'ZDF'.

Horngacher and Hüttel upset

While Austria and Japan still made it to the final and were able to continue their (apparently) hopeless fight for precious metal, the competition was over for Geiger and Co. at this point. Ninth place, no more jumps in the final round and only frustration and incomprehension instead of precious metal. Men's national coach Stefan Horngacher grumbled on 'ZDF': “At the Olympics they suddenly start measuring differently or more. To me, it's all puppet theater. We always had problems in the men’s area and new rules are constantly being set up.”

Nevertheless, those responsible, above all in the person of team manager Horst Hüttel, started talks directly with the other two nations concerned. “We stood together with Austria and Japan and discussed the matter. We're all pissed off. The girls say in unison that they all jumped the same suits as in the individual competition. And everything was fine there. This is an incomprehensible situation,” said Hüttel.

Katharina Althaus, as the affected athlete, was initially unable and unwilling to comment publicly, but the official revealed: "Katharina says she has been completely checked over for longer than ever and she had the feeling that until something was found." As with Takanashi and Iraschko prided it on a spot on the suit that didn’t comply with the rules, but Hüttel was already certain: “If you take out three of the top athletes, the FIS has to question whether everything is going right. For our sport, that’s really big crap.”

Misunderstanding also in Norway

When Hüttel vented his anger, the final round began and more messages were to come from the material container. Just a few minutes apart, both Norwegians, Anna Odine Stroem and Silje Opseth, were disqualified. "I'm just shocked. I don't understand anything about what happened today," Opseth told NRK after the first disqualification of her career. When asked if only the women were specifically checked, she replied: "It looks like only women were disqualified. No idea."

Horst Hüttel couldn't shake the impression that the focus was on the women: "That's a specific topic for women. But it seems as if a procedure has been applied, which has not been the case before. And if that's the case, then you have to question the whole process, it didn't get a man either."

Stroem, who only noticed once during the equipment check in almost 100 World Cup starts, confirmed that the checks went differently than usual: "We should position ourselves differently than usual. But that's how it is sometimes. But we can't change anything about it, we can only learn from it. It goes on, even if it went incredibly strange. I'm honestly a bit speechless."

Braathen demands an explanation and warns

Manuel Fettner, who had won silver the day before, seemed just as helpless: "I've never seen anything like that before. It's hard for me to judge whether this is the first time they've controlled things so strictly. But I also find it difficult to believe that Danie and the others would have taken such a risk.” Stroem's compatriot Robert Johansson had a similar experience: “I never thought I would ever experience something like this. It just feels messy and confusing. It was a weird day of competition.”

His team manager Clas Brede Braathen announced that he would demand an explanation from the FIS: "We have to do this, of course we have to do it." Nothing can now be changed about the results, "but we have to know what happened and look to them Watch out for the future of this sport.” Of course, none of the protagonists should be interested in a second experience of this kind.